I posted this question in the Roman Polanski pit thread, but it being the pit, people were having too much fun yelling at each other to answer a factual question.
What’s the penalty for flight from prosecution in California? Besides the previous charges (and please, let’s not discuss them, here - I want a GQ answer regarding flight), what can Polanski expect to face because of him skipping the country instead of going to trial?
Actually, Polanski was already tried and found guilty. He fled imprisonment.
I have no idea what extra penalty he may face if extradited.
California Penal Code:
(boldface mine)
I’ll let someone else look up the rest of the code to see if this sentence is to be served concurrently or consecutively, and someone familiar with California law to let us know if this has changed from 1978 to 2009 and if the law in California is that he gets the punishment as things were when he started evading justice or when he finished doing it.
So the max is a year, then.
Thanks. Question asked, question answered. Gotta love this board for that.
I would think he would be charged under the current law, because this is what’s called a continuing offence. Every day that Mr. Polanski was thumbing his nose at the California criminal courts, he’s committing the offence. As recently as earlier this year, he was given the opportunity to come back to California to argue that the original court proceedings were tainted. He declined. He’s still committing the offence, by contesting extradition in Switzerland.
I take it there’s no statue of limitations on those things eh?
Well, as mentioned by Northern Piper, on the potential Section 1320.5 charge until the very day of his arrest he WAS committing the crime of evasion; and on the unlawful sexual conduct case the statute of limitations (whatever it was for that offense at the time of the incident) is moot, because the charging and conviction (via guilty plea) HAS happened, he just has avoided getting and completing a sentence for it.
Just remembered something - even if Switzerland agrees to extradite Mr. Polanski, he likely can’t be charged or tried with fleeing the jurisdiction, because of the “rule of specialty.” This is a principle of extradition law - if a country agrees to extradite an individual, it’s normally only for the offence alleged by the requesting state. The requesting state can’t tack on new offences once the target of the extradition arrives in that state.
Here’s a brief quote from the US Attorneys’ practice manual on extradition:
It wouldn’t make much sense, would it? To erase your sentence simply because you ran away?