Well Heaven forbid!

WARNING/DISCLAIMER

This post contains materials that may be upsetting. If you think that a story about rape or molestation may contain triggers for you, I urge you not to continue.











This update has me shaking my head tonight.

Polanski could face two years prison if extradited.

By Sam Cage and Lisa Jucca
Reuters
Sunday, October 25, 2009; 1:34 AM

ZURICH (Reuters) - Film director Roman Polanski could face two years in prison if extradited to the United States after fleeing sentencing in California on child sex charges in 1978, the Swiss justice ministry said.

"The United States want him to be extradited for sexual intercourse with a minor. This carries a maximum sentence of two years under U.S. law," justice ministry spokesman Folco Galli said on Friday.

The United States had formally asked Switzerland to extradite Polanski, the ministry said earlier, adding it would reach a decision based on a hearing and information provided by Polanski's lawyer, but that there was no deadline.

"If he agrees voluntarily to the extradition, the process can be concluded rapidly," Galli said. "If he fights it all the way, it will take months and months."

Polanski will be able to appeal against any extradition decision to the Swiss Federal Criminal Court and, in the last instance, the Federal Supreme Court, the ministry said.



The 76-year-old Oscar-winning director, who holds dual French and Polish citizenship, was arrested to comply with a U.S. warrant when he flew into Switzerland on September 26 to receive a lifetime achievement award at a film festival.

Polanski fled the United States when he was due to be sentenced for having unlawful sex with a girl aged 13.

U.S. judicial sources have said the extradition process is complex and could take years if Polanski challenges it.

A Swiss court this week rejected a bid by Polanski for release on bail, saying the risk that he would flee was too high.

Polanski's lawyer Herve Temime told Reuters that his client's strategy remained unchanged.

"Mr. Polanski will continue to fight this extradition request and demand that he be freed," he said.

And before you start feeling sorry for the poor 'old' man, this was what he looked like when he committed the rape. He was famous, authoratative (she was working for him) and charming.

He got her drunk. He then went even further, and drugged her. He performed oral sex on her. He raped her, then he sodomised her. At no time have any of these facts been disputed, even by Polanski himself.


From the LA Times:

In the flat light of the grand jury room, a nervous, deeply embarrassed 13-year-old girl sat alone -- no attorney, no mother, no friend -- facing three tiers of middle-aged strangers silently studying her from their leather armchairs.

The questions that day in March 1977 were clinical in tone.

The answers would set off a furor from Hollywood to London and Paris that has yet to subside.

Samantha Gailey -- sandy brown hair, dimpled chin, missing class at her junior high in Woodland Hills -- described her alleged rape by director Roman Polanski two weeks before at Jack Nicholson's home above Franklin Canyon. She clutched a small heart charm her friend had given her.

"After he kissed you, did he say anything?" asked the prosecutor, Roger Gunson.

"No," the girl said.

"Did you say anything?"

"No, besides I was just going, 'No, come on, let's go home. . . .' He said, 'I'll take you home soon.' "

"Then what happened?"

"And then he went down and started performing cuddliness."

"What does that mean?"

"It means he went down on me, or he placed his mouth on my vagina. . . . I was ready to cry. I was kind of -- I was going, 'No. Come on. Stop it.' But I was afraid."

Samantha's testimony that day was unequivocal: She had kept trying to get away from him, putting her clothes back on, saying no repeatedly. She had made up a lie about having asthma to get out of a Jacuzzi. He persisted. She was scared. She did not physically fight him off. He began to have sex with her, then, concerned she might get pregnant, switched to anal sex. When he drove her home, he told her not to tell her mom, adding, "You know, when I first met you, I promised myself I wouldn't do anything like this with you."

Well. What the hell kind of message does this send out to victims of sexual abuse? Other than that if the attacker is rich, powerful or in a position of authority, there is no use in reporting him. No justice will be served.

And at best, the scars you will bear the rest of your life are worth, at best, 2 years.