Polanski finally busted

Noted film director Roman Polanski was arrested yesterday in Switzerland as he flew in to accept a lifetime achievement award from a movie festival in Zurich. This stems from a long standing warrant for extradition from a rape incident in 1977 with a minor, who has since identified herself as Samantha Geimer. Polanski plied Geimer with champagne and a Quaalude before having sex with her -- at Jack Nicholson's house.
　
The plea bargain was that Polanski's "evaluation period" of 42 days would constitute time served. The judge in the case, however, wanted to renege on the deal and demanded Polanksi show up for resentencing. Polanski, a victim of Nazi atrocities, fled to Europe and has since shuttled between France (the home of his birth) and Poland (where his family sought refuge until he was forced to escape the Krakow ghetto). Both countries are in the Schengen border-free zone and with much more lax views about statutory rape. Polanski must have presumed that since Switzerland is now in the border-free zone as well (although remaining outside of the European Union) it was perfectly safe for him to travel there too.

No such luck, of course, as Switzerland's extradition treaty with the US does cover statutory rape.
　
For what it's worth, Geimer long ago settled out of court with Polanski for an undisclosed sum, has said she has forgiven him, and for that reason she is opposed to the continuation of the extradition demand -- and that the charges should simply be dropped.

If only it were that simple -- the criminal law does not deal with torts (private wrongs), nor does it acknowledge the concept of forgiveness. Polanski may have made Geimer a victim, but his crime is officially against the state and not an individual. Both individuals do have a point, to a certain extent. A deal is a deal. Polanski is correct in his assertion that he served his time and he should be allowed to return to the States, unfettered.
　
But that's just the matter with the State of California. An argument can be made that Polanski violated Geimer's civil rights, which is a federal crime. This does not violate the double jeopardy rule, as the police brutality that surrounded the Rodney King case clearly established.
　
I believe that new charges should be filed on that basis, presuming the statute of limitations hasn't expired. The maximum sentence for that is 10 years. I don't think he'd get that, but given the severity of his actions more than three decades ago and similar sentences for such similar circumstances at the time, a five year sentence not entirely unreasonable. Neither his achievements before and after his raping Geimer, nor the fact that he was a Holocaust survivor, nor having suffered the injury of having his pregnant wife Sharon Tate being murdered by the "Manson family" should excuse Polanski from having to pay the consequences.

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