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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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 Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 5:49 am Post subject: |
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It is not often the US criminal justice system loses in its attempt to skewer someone. Good on the Swiss.
Ironically, the ine months he spent under house arrest is triple the time he was originally going to be sentenced to serve.
Polanski freed!
Roman Polanski escapes extradition to US
Film director goes free after nine months under house arrest in Switzerland
* Kate Connolly Berlin
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 July 2010 13.48 BST
Roman Polanski, the film director who has been under house arrest in Switzerland for the past nine months, has been declared a free man after officials decided not to extradite him to the United States.
The Swiss justice ministry said it had decided against handing the fugitive director to the US, where he is wanted for sentencing for having sex with a 13-year-old girl 33 years ago.
"The Swiss justice ministry will not extradite Roman Polanski to the United States," Eveline Widner-Schlumpf, a ministry official said at a press conference in Bern. "The Franco-Polish film-maker will not be extradited to the United States, and the measures of restriction on his liberty have been lifted."
She said national interests had been considered before the decision was made, adding: "Polanski is now a free man." Polanski was arrested on a US warrant last year while in Zurich to collect a lifetime achievement award for his film work. He was kept under house arrest at his Swiss chalet in the mountain resort of Gstaad.
He will now be able to move beyond his garden for the first time. An electronic tag has been removed from his ankle.
The Swiss decision is likely to cause diplomatic tensions between Switzerland and the US.
Widner-Schlumpf added: "The reason for the decision lies in the fact that it was not possible to exclude with the necessary certainty a fault in the US extraditionary request." |
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geldedgoat
Joined: 05 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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| bacasper wrote: |
It is not often the US criminal justice system loses in its attempt to skewer someone. Good on the Swiss.
Ironically, the ine months he spent under house arrest is triple the time he was originally going to be sentenced to serve. |
I'm beginning to find your constant and aggressive defense of all child molestation cases more than a little disturbing. Your support seems particularly inappropriate in this case, in which the defendant admitted his guilt, accepted a lesser charge, and then escaped sentencing. It makes not even the slightest bit of difference what other tragedies occurred in his life prior to his encounter with Geimer; what matters is that he made a very poor series of decisions that led to the victimization of a 13-year old. |
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comm
Joined: 22 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 9:47 pm Post subject: |
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A pedophile was convicted of a crime and sentenced to jail. He escaped and fled to another country. Later, the (already convicted) criminal was arrested. Should he serve the sentence?
HELL YES HE SHOULD! With added time for the escape! |
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recessiontime
Joined: 21 Jun 2010
Location: Got avatar privileges nyahahaha
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| Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 10:49 pm Post subject: |
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he beat the system.
I learned something today.  |
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riverboy
Joined: 03 Jun 2003
Location: Incheon
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| Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 2:01 am Post subject: |
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| I'm beginning to find your constant and aggressive defense of all child molestation cases more than a little disturbing. Your support seems particularly inappropriate in this case, in which the defendant admitted his guilt, accepted a lesser charge, and then escaped sentencing. It makes not even the slightest bit of difference what other tragedies occurred in his life prior to his encounter with Geimer; what matters is that he made a very poor series of decisions that led to the victimization of a 13-year old. |
Yer not the only one buddy.
MOD EDIT |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 2:40 am Post subject: |
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| geldedgoat wrote: |
| bacasper wrote: |
It is not often the US criminal justice system loses in its attempt to skewer someone. Good on the Swiss.
Ironically, the ine months he spent under house arrest is triple the time he was originally going to be sentenced to serve. |
I'm beginning to find your constant and aggressive defense of all child molestation cases more than a little disturbing. |
Sorry, but I have seen far too many false convictions in these cases, but instead of attacking me, are you not able to articulate specifically what I said with which you take issue?
| Quote: |
| Your support seems particularly inappropriate in this case, in which the defendant admitted his guilt, accepted a lesser charge, and then escaped sentencing. |
Wrong. The defendant admitted guilt to the charge for which he was sentenced. The judge ordered him to undergo an evaluation which he did. It is not his fault they completed the evaluation in less than 90 days. Did you expect him to say, "No, please don't release me!" Anyway, he has now served an additional nine months.
The defense, prosecution, victim, and TWO judges all agreed to the resolution of the case. Are we all wrong? |
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Enrico Palazzo
Mod Team
Joined: 11 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 2:57 am Post subject: |
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Can you debate this without trashing each other? Or, do we need to pull this one?
What happened was a heinous crime by a grown adult male who bullied a young female and assaulted her. Polanski appears to have been misled when it came to how he would be punished and fled, it appears.
Perhaps, he should have received a more severe sentence in the first place. I am not a judge. Greimer wants the case let go. I think those who dealt with punishment in the first place made mistakes in the first place. I have no sympathy for Polanski. I admire his film-making, that's all.
Anyway, stick to the TOS. |
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geldedgoat
Joined: 05 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:33 am Post subject: |
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| bacasper wrote: |
| Sorry, but I have seen far too many false convictions in these cases, but instead of attacking me, are you not able to articulate specifically what I said with which you take issue? |
I'm sorry. I didn't mean that to be taken as a personal attack, but more of an attack on your approach to these cases. I've read a great many of your posts on the subject, and generally I'm in agreement that post-release punishment is often too severe and media witch-hunts are too commonplace. However, this case should stand out as markedly different, for the reasons I did articulate.
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| Wrong. The defendant admitted guilt to the charge for which he was sentenced. |
I fail to see how what I said was wrong. He did plead to the lesser charge offered him, but only per the request of his victim in an attempt to preserve her anonymity (whoops!). In doing so, he did admit his guilt, at the very least in having sexual intercourse with a 13-year old while he was age 43-44(?). Finally, he did flee the country before he was formally sentenced. True, he justifies this by saying the judge and his attorneys discussed first one and then another sentence, but that doesn't excuse his flight. Judge's decisions are subject to procedure for good reasons; in this case, the judge obviously felt a change of punishment was appropriate.
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| The judge ordered him to undergo an evaluation which he did. It is not his fault they completed the evaluation in less than 90 days. |
But it is his fault he knowingly fled the country before he was formally sentenced, which is why he is now rightfully the target of extradition requests and can receive a much more severe sentence than he would have originally received should he ever return to US soil.
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| Anyway, he has now served an additional nine months. |
And if he returns for sentencing, those nine months of grueling leisure in his private Swiss chalet may be counted as time served.
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| The defense, prosecution, victim, and TWO judges all agreed to the resolution of the case. Are we all wrong? |
The private opinions of individuals are thankfully not taken as irrefutable facts, as any number of influences weigh on them (for example, the victim who just wants everyone to leave her the hell alone). |
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Mr. Pink
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: China
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| Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:43 am Post subject: |
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| recessiontime wrote: |
he beat the system.
I learned something today. |
We learned something years ago with O.J. Simpson too. In the case of O.J. we also learned that justice can eventually prevail. |
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recessiontime
Joined: 21 Jun 2010
Location: Got avatar privileges nyahahaha
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| Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:56 am Post subject: |
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| Mr. Pink wrote: |
| recessiontime wrote: |
he beat the system.
I learned something today. |
We learned something years ago with O.J. Simpson too. In the case of O.J. we also learned that justice can eventually prevail. |
You've obviously watched too many American movies. I'll bet you $50 that Polanski won't end up the same way. Unlike OJ, he has money. |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 8:07 am Post subject: |
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| geldedgoat wrote: |
| bacasper wrote: |
| Sorry, but I have seen far too many false convictions in these cases, but instead of attacking me, are you not able to articulate specifically what I said with which you take issue? |
I'm sorry. I didn't mean that to be taken as a personal attack, but more of an attack on your approach to these cases. I've read a great many of your posts on the subject, and generally I'm in agreement that post-release punishment is often too severe and media witch-hunts are too commonplace. However, this case should stand out as markedly different, for the reasons I did articulate. |
Thanks for the apology, but I feel that we have a genuine difference of opinion here. He served the time he was supposed to under the agreement that the judge was going to renege on. The victim did not want it dragged up again either. If any case were ever going to be quietly dropped, this is the one.
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| Quote: |
| Wrong. The defendant admitted guilt to the charge for which he was sentenced. |
I fail to see how what I said was wrong. He did plead to the lesser charge offered him, but only per the request of his victim in an attempt to preserve her anonymity (whoops!). In doing so, he did admit his guilt, at the very least in having sexual intercourse with a 13-year old while he was age 43-44(?). |
When you wrote
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| the defendant admitted his guilt, accepted a lesser charge |
the implication is that he admitted to a greater charge which he did not.
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| Finally, he did flee the country before he was formally sentenced. True, he justifies this by saying the judge and his attorneys discussed first one and then another sentence, but that doesn't excuse his flight. Judge's decisions are subject to procedure for good reasons; in this case, the judge obviously felt a change of punishment was appropriate. |
If anything, he should be liable for failure to appear, for which the punishment is unrelated to, and should certainly not be more than that for, the index offense.
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| The judge ordered him to undergo an evaluation which he did. It is not his fault they completed the evaluation in less than 90 days. |
But it is his fault he knowingly fled the country before he was formally sentenced, which is why he is now rightfully the target of extradition requests and can receive a much more severe sentence than he would have originally received should he ever return to US soil. |
If you knew you were going to be subjected to an injustice, would you stick around? It is just like the current case of the Daegu teacher who fled Korea. Should he have stuck around, too?
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| The defense, prosecution, victim, and TWO judges all agreed to the resolution of the case. Are we all wrong? |
The private opinions of individuals are thankfully not taken as irrefutable facts, as any number of influences weigh on them (for example, the victim who just wants everyone to leave her the hell alone). |
What private opinions are you talking about? All the figures in a public prosecution are just that - public. Their stances - not "opinions" - do matter. |
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geldedgoat
Joined: 05 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 4:02 am Post subject: |
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| bacasper wrote: |
| Thanks for the apology, but I feel that we have a genuine difference of opinion here. He served the time he was supposed to under the agreement that the judge was going to renege on. |
What reneging was the judge going to engage in? The only finalized agreement was that Polanski would plead guilty to a lesser charge. The final sentence is never included in a formal, signed plea agreement.
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| If you knew you were going to be subjected to an injustice, would you stick around? |
I see no injustice; I only see a defendant who ran when he discovered his punishment was going to be worse than he originally thought.
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| It is just like the current case of the Daegu teacher who fled Korea. Should he have stuck around, too? |
The Daegu teacher did not plea guilty (was he even charged before he fled?). If he was charged and was certain of his innocence, then no, he should not have stuck around. Polanski was fully aware of his guilt. The two flights deserve no comparison.
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| What private opinions are you talking about? All the figures in a public prosecution are just that - public. Their stances - not "opinions" - do matter. |
I may be wrong here (I'm being genuine in my uncertainty), but I was under the impression that none of these dissenting prosecutors and judges have current jurisdiction over the case. Do you have a link detailing these individuals and their opinions? |
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nautilus
Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Location: Je jump, Tu jump, oui jump!
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 6:49 am Post subject: |
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cloudn't the swiss have gotten a sense of humour for a moment?
I mean the whole world was waiting for another celebrity show trial. |
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comm
Joined: 22 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 10:58 am Post subject: |
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| nautilus wrote: |
| I mean the whole world was waiting for another celebrity show trial. |
The criminal wasnt being sent to the US for a trial, he was already convicted and sentenced. He was going to be returned to serve the sentence. |
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geldedgoat
Joined: 05 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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| comm wrote: |
| The criminal wasnt being sent to the US for a trial, he was already convicted and sentenced. He was going to be returned to serve the sentence. |
He was never formally sentenced. |
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