Patterico's Pontifications

11/26/2009

Swiss Officials Will Not Appeal Court’s Grant of Bail to Polanski

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:56 am



Swiss officials will not contest a Swiss court’s decision to allow Roman Polanski to be confined in the following Gstaad hellhole:

Polanski Gstaad Chalet

Laurie Levenson has a good quote:

“It is very rare to get bail in an extradition case and especially in cases where the person’s fled,” said Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and Loyola law professor. “This is a little like giving bail to O.J. after the Bronco chase.”

There’s a moment in the documentary “Wanted and Desired” (I can’t find a clip of it) when a reporter is asking Polanski whether he will come back — and he laughs and says something like: “Don’t worry about it.”

So, you know. Don’t worry about it.

*

P.S. Meanwhile, reader Josh W. tilts at the AP windmill with this letter seeking a correction to the nearly 5 gazillion stories they have written misrepresenting the nature of Polanski’s plea bargain. Per my pledge to publish any such letter, here we go:

Hello,

There have been several AP articles in recent weeks which have included the following statements.

“In exchange, the judge agreed to drop the remaining charges and sentence him to prison for a 90-day psychiatric evaluation. The evaluator released Polanski after 42 days, but the judge said he was going to send him back to serve out the 90 days.”

Those statements are false. From the actual court testimony http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0928091polanskiplea1.html

MR. GUNSON: Do you understand that the Judge has not made any decision?

THE DEFENDANT: Yes.

. . . .

MR. GUNSON: Mr. Polanski, do you understand that at the time of probation and sentencing, the prosecutor may argue that you should be sentenced to State Prison, or incarcerated in the County Jail?

THE DEFENDANT: Yes.

A 90-day jail term was NEVER part of any plea deal agreement. Thus, the judge had the final determination on what Polanski’s sentence would be.

Examples of articles which have used it
1) “Swiss OK Polanski move to house arrest in Alps –
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091126/ap_on_en_mo/eu_switzerland_polanski
Authors: Alexander G. Higgins, Frank Jordans and Eliane Engeler in Geneva, and Balz Bruppacher in Bern, Switzerland

2) “E-Mails: US Discussed Nabbing Polanski in Austria”
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=8887241
Author: Bradley S. Klapper

3) “Polanski’s lawyer says director’s family suffering”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hWyua-H0P1gmlCvLJy1hYcZYdNigD9C2SB583
Author: none provided

When can I expect to see these articles corrected?

Josh W.

19 Responses to “Swiss Officials Will Not Appeal Court’s Grant of Bail to Polanski”

  1. Mr W wrote:

    When can I expect to see these articles corrected?

    You should live so long!

    The Dana who isn't holding his breath (474dfc)

  2. Now that he’s out of jail we will discover that poor Mr. Polanski is too old and “sick” to be extradited.

    The special people are different than you or I. They get the money, they get the breaks.

    chaos (9c54c6)

  3. I noticed that he is ordered confined to his chalet which will allow him to claim these days as custody credits when he is eventually sentenced.

    Alta Bob (e8af2b)

  4. That house is adorable.

    happyfeet (0003d3)

  5. Polanski may employ the same doctor who gave the Lockerbie bomber six months to live. How long ago was that ?

    Mike K (addb13)

  6. Mike — I just posted about that. He actually gave him 3 months to live — more than three months ago.

    My post was independent of your comment — which is a weird coincidence.

    Patterico (64318f)

  7. All it needs is some blond pig-tails, ginger-bread, and liederhosen…and a coo-coo clock.

    AD - RtR/OS! (9653bd)

  8. Could Anne Applebaum be reached for comment?

    daleyrocks (62b617)

  9. This whole Polanski matter continues to be obscene.

    And for the full effect of his new prison, see here.

    Dana (e9ba20)

  10. Aw geez, he’s loose. Somebody better warn Heidi.

    You know the old pedophile going to skip and go to France to live out his days as an adored film directer while the Swiss pocket 4.5 million bucks. I know California has debt problems but I wonder whether they have an ADA and a cop ready in the land of clocks and nazi gold on the off chance they get judge who upholds the law?

    scr_north (697e70)

  11. But adjectiveless Dana, we want to avoid any appearance of supporting cruel and unusual punishment, don’t we?

    The sympathetic Dana (474dfc)

  12. 70% of the Swiss believe animals should have their own lawyers so maybe that explains their reluctance to lock up some humans.

    DRJ (dee47d)

  13. They say the bail represents half his wealth. Would it not have been prudent to have required his entire wealth as an incentive to not run. As it stands, he could bail (haha) and still have $4.5M to live on, which at the ripe old age of 76 will probably be sufficient. This will not end well.

    Gazzer (f4dafa)

  14. I agree with Gazzer. I’m really disappointed that they let him out. I think he’ll skip.

    Hank Archer (d8389b)

  15. Where are bounty hunters when you need them?

    PCD (74f8a9)

  16. > All it needs is some blond pig-tails, ginger-bread, and liederhosen…and a coo-coo clock.

    Fine by me, as long as I get to attach the explosive device.

    The man pond scum is pond scum.

    OBloodyhell (811125)

  17. The man pond scum is pond scum.

    supposed to be

    The man pond scum is pond scum.

    OBloodyhell (811125)

  18. Hrmm — “Strike” doesn’t.

    OBloodyhell (811125)

  19. Actually, the Swiss probably plan to have him skip out on the bail. They will then pocket the money and arrange for him to be extradited from France on a charge of skipping bail. Then they can get him arrested and locked up in Switzerland. THey probably do not trust the Obama administration to actually follow through on the Los Angeles extradition request.

    Sabba Hillel (153338)


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