Roman Polanski, or pardon me but your poll is in my neck.

even if the age of consent was 13 it was rape

the statutory thing is a distraction

OTM.

not really because that's what he ended up pleading guilty to, isn't it? more like the existence/non-existence of consent is a distraction.

i mean in the surrounding discourse--people defending polanski, or at least condemning his arrest, latch on to the statutory thing in some kind of last-ditch "it was just called rape because she was young!" thing. when the transcript makes clear that she said "no," over and over and over again.

u should defend him , harbs

not to tell everyone what they already know, but the justice system is deeply screwed up in this country, and if you have any kind of clout, you get a better deal, from apprehension all the way to sentencing. just because one of "yours" gets a taste of what it is to be in the game and have that kind of clout for once, it's no reason to cheer.

harbl, rapist lawyer

It seems the mystery is, why now? That they couldn't have taken him in before seems extremely dubious to me.

when the transcript makes clear that she said "no," over and over and over again

Not often enough to convince Whoopi Goldberg

no thanx i'll leave it up to anne applebaum xpost

Call Harbl, Esq. when you've suffered enough

It seems the mystery is, why now?

Oh yeah, any ideas?

Funny we should talk about the Hollywood shock troops reaction - my officemate's grandfather was assistant director on "On the Waterfront" with Kazan, and he has some interesting stories about Kazan and his shunning by the Hollywood crowd.

Um ... he deserved worse than shunning.

extradition laws--they've tried to get him a few times before

i mean in the surrounding discourse--people defending polanski, or at least condemning his arrest, latch on to the statutory thing in some kind of last-ditch "it was just called rape because she was young!" thing. when the transcript makes clear that she said "no," over and over and over again.

― fleetwood (max), Thursday, October 1, 2009 1:39 PM (2 minutes ago)

yeah but the thing is these people are idiots who don't understand laws to begin with

Hm. This is interesting.

more like the existence/non-existence of consent is a distraction. This is true. There is no POSSIBILITY for consent in this scenario. At least under California law at the time.

With regard to a 40+ having sex with a 13 year old, I have no problem whatsovever for the imposition of a statutory age of consent of somewhere older than 13.

also, can we get the Swiss to arrest Kissinger?

Maybe you guys should apply the same outrage to the president saying we have to "move forward" rather than prosecute Bush-era crimes.

it was 16 iirc

It's election time in L.A. County, so that explains the renewed interest in capturing Polanski. But you know what? I don't care at all about the motivations behind reinstating the warrant 31 years after the fact. He's just as guilty now as he was then.

Whoopi Goldberg is a respected jurist

Obama's presidency isn't old enough to give consent yet, Morbs.

i don't think anyone is outraged

It seems the mystery is, why now? That they couldn't have taken him in before seems extremely dubious to me.

more like "lol you really want to go out of your way to defend him?"

also, can we get the Swiss to arrest Kissinger?

this would be kinda awesome. except that there's no warrant for Kissinger's arrest lolz

X-post - It could also have to do with the recent movie re: Polanski, which goes to GREAT lengths to paint him in a very sympathetic light w/r/t his personal history, the Tate murder, the judicial screwing around with the case, etc.

Look - no one is saying that he hasn't led a difficult, roller coaster life - Holocaust, wife murdered, etc. But he raped a 13yo. Fuck him and his difficult life.

Morbs, you're making the same dumbass arguments that the actors are - the lack of punishment for some egregious crimes doesn't mean we should ignore them all. I think Kissinger's head on a pike would be lovely - but it's not going to happen, and that in no way excuses a child rapist from punishment.

he has to be in a country that will extradite and will arrest him on behalf of the US

Uh yeah, but doesn't he own a home in Switzerland? I assume he's been there at least once in the last 31 years.

Switzerland doesn't allow for extradition

there's no warrant for Kissinger's arrest

There has been (not from America obv), and there could be more.

I am not excusing rape; I'm an agnostic on what should happen to RP at this point.

they had to know ahead of time to have the warrant ready. i would say this is explained upthread but i think this is just a repeating thread all over

(whoops excuse me, i guess it's France that does that--not sure about Switzerland)

this would be kinda awesome. except that there's no warrant for Kissinger's arrest lolz

I've read that Chile is very close to issuing one.

"Polanski featured in a national database listing people wanted abroad for crimes, but his name was one of thousands. Stefan von Below, a cantonal police spokesman said officers do not "actively hunt" down people unless they know exactly when and where that person will be.

So until someone tipped off Swiss authorities that the director would be landing at Zurich airport on September 26 en route to a festival honouring his work, Polanski was largely free to lay Swiss roots. After four decades, they'd grown deep."

Still something odd going on here

who cares though, is the thing

^

like everyone is making these arguments at how outrageous the judge acted, how he's a filmmaker for god's sake, but the thing is it doesn't change what he did.

France does extradite, but doesn't have to extradite its own nationals to the US. A Kissinger warrant has been threatened for years.

People who think prosecution by whim is wrong, mebbe? xxp

anyhoo, fuckittybye

fuck kitty?

the SWISS BANKERS are getting LEANED ON by obama's SOCIALIST GOONS so they did him FAVOR by knocking his GOVT HEALTHSCARE TAKEOVER out of the news, even though it looks like they TOOK DOWN a notorious LEFTIST PERVERT

Missile shields, Iranian nuclear programme, it's all coming together

one leftist pervert down, millions to go amirite

Who are you calling a leftist, thangyewverymuchyou'vebeenawunnerfulaudience

"Prosecution by whim" doesn't even begin to come close to accurately describing a case in which someone was properly indicted by a grand jury, charged with a felony, allowed to plead guilty to a lesser felony, then fled before sentencing. It's very nearly the exact opposite, in fact.

I think the questionable thing is why it took them 31 years to get round to finding where and when he was at any given time

it's questionable i guess but has no real relevance, there are many cases that pick up steam years later because of a fresh focus or a new person on the case or whatever

Guys, let's drive to L.A. and ask to serve in the jury pool.

and even if it's a "conspiracy", the conspiracy's "endgame" appears to be "hey let's get that rapist!"

prosecution "by whim" ie randomly seems like it would produce better outcomes than the classist racist control mechanism we're getting now