I was wondering…Roman Polanski is currently living in france and won’t return to the US because he’s afraid of being arrested.
Doesn’t the US have an extridtion treaty with France? I would think we would have invoked it by now. Or has france reasons for not wanting to give him up?
I don’t know much about this issue, but :
1)Yes, there’s such a treaty.
2)The statutory rape he has been accused of would be a crime too under french law
3)I believe Polanski wasn’t present at his trial (don’t know the english word for this kind of trial…“in absentia” in latin). Under french law, a trial “in abstentia” doesn’t provide adequate guarantees for the accused person hence isn’t recognized as valid (such trials exist in France too, but they are only provisionnary, and a new trial must be held when the accused is found, arrested, etc…). Since France won’t extradite someone to a country where the rights of the defendant aren’t respected (according to french standarts), he couldn’t be extradited to face his sentence.
4)If Polanski hold french citizenship (I don’t know if he does), he can’t be extradited, either.
5) There might be some status of limitation issue, too…
IIRC Polanski has not been tried, in absentia or otherwise. I believe he had worked out a plea agreement with the prosecutor, then fled the country because there was concern the judge in the case might not agree to the sentencing part of the agreement. The statute of limitations stops tolling if the suspect leaves the jurisdiction.
Otto is right, no deal had been made yet. But the late Judge Lawrence Rittenband in Santa Monica was going to send Polanski to Chino St Prison for a 90 day psych evaluation ,was the prediction at the time. IMO, Roman will soon be hosting Robert Blake for cocktails.
Sorry, no cite, but Polanski is a naturalized citizen of France, and thus not subject to extradition.
There are many recent stories in the news if you search about Polanski being unable to go to England to pursue a civil lawsuit there. France apparently has declined to extradite because of his French citizenship but England would apparently be more than happy to if he shows up there.
Keep in mind that, although this is usually just referred to as “statutory rape” in the press, in fact the girl was 13 or 14 and Polanski gave her drugs and alcohol which is why he was expected to face a relatively harsh sentence.