Polanski Slips Extradition

So what the heck happened I wonder? Child-rapist Polanski gets ensnared by the Swiss, only to get away. This sounds like a case where the outcome has little or no resemblance to what kicked it off. Yes, the Swiss were ready to hand Polanski over, but on condition that the US show that he was not double-crossed by the judge in the rape case, as Polanski claimed. Unfortunately, it looks like he was indeed double-crossed – at least in the Swiss view.

I tend to believe the Swissies on this one, since they are in the position of looking sleazier by every neutral-minute that this extradition thing hangs on. It looks like Polanski’s original US prosecuting district attorney and judge cut him a sweet deal on the rape charge - 90 days of evaluation in prison - without understanding that the evaluator could cut Polanski loose early, at his/her discretion. Once Polanski was free in less than 90, the judge recalled and reformed the deal – and Polanski skipped.

The real question is why Polanski got such a deal on the rape, in the first place? The Swiss probably feel no compulsion to aid the US in fixing their prosecutorial screw-up in going after Polanski. This is separate from feeling the need to seriously act on the extradition request. Again, I think Polanski showed up on the Justice Dept. radar because he has assets in USB, a Swiss bank on the recent hot seat for helping rich US citizens hide large sums of money from the government. (See earlier post here).

Anyway, AG Holder and crew didn’t do their homework and tried to bluff the Swissies, who it seems told them to kiss-off. The bluff focused on the US not sending a key piece of confidential testimony from the prosecuting DA in the case – information that I would suspect backed up the double-cross claim.

Sure, I wish Polanski was going to jail for drugging and raping a 13 year old, but he plead it out based on a deal offered, and the judge should have lived up to it – which he did not. So Polanski goes free. He still knows he’s scum and that his freedom is subject to the winds off Lake Geneva, or wherever. If he was unaware, Polanski now knows, as does history, of the elusive price tag hiding under the base of Swiss neutrality.

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE...

Technorati Tags: Polanski Slips Extradition, Switzerland, Rape, Murder, Celebrity, Acting White