LA JUDGE LARRY FIDLER’S ROLE IN QUEERING ’98 POLANSKI SURRENDER

The Roman Polanski sex incident of 1978 is reverberating anew in 2009—with the suspiciously timed Swiss extradition arrest of the Oscar winning director on a Los Angeles County arrest warrant.

But the real story, in our view, does not concern what Polanski did with a minor in Jack Nicholson’s hot tub after the minor’s mother dropped the teen Lolita off to be alone with Polanski (allegedly to obtain money from the famed director by setting him up to be prosecuted ). No, the latest scandal doesn’t concern Polanski’s conviction for having sex with a minor or his fleeing the U.S. for France.

As initially reported last year based on the release of the acclaimed documentary “Roman Polanski, Wanted and Desired”, the documentary (as originally shown) ends with the revelation that in a 1998 meeting of lawyers and the court to arrange for Polanski’s surrender to face-the-music, Judge Larry Paul Fidler wanted a new Polanski hearing to be televised, as a deal point. Polanski was spooked, and the surrender was nixed.

Judge Fidler arguably loves the limelight. As presiding judge, he assigned himself to the recent Phil Spector murder trial, a televised debacle that ended in a mistrial. It was the first celebrity case televised in whole since the O.J. Simpson fiasco in 1995.

Fidler then fought to hold onto the retrial—although (through no fault of Fidler’s) the media decided that there was not enough public interest in the retrial to merit gavel to gavel television coverage—or any news camera feed in the courtroom.

But as soon as the Polanski documentary aired at a Los
Angeles film festival, Fidler and the Los Angeles Superior Court commenced a full court public relations press--denying that the 1998 meeting happened. So Roger Gunson , who prosecuted Polanski, and Douglas Dalton, the director’s lawyer, issued a strongly worded statement in the face of this denial:

It reads:

"In 1997, Douglas Dalton, attorney for Roman Polanski, and Roger Gunson, prosecutor on the Polanski case, met with Judge Larry Paul Fidler in his chambers to discuss the Polanski case. Mr. Gunson and Mr. Dalton advised Judge Fidler of Judge Rittenband's conduct in handling the case that is accurately captured in the documentary, 'Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired.'

"At the meeting, Judge Fidler advised Mr. Dalton that if Mr. Polanski returned to Los Angeles, that he, Judge Fidler, would allow Mr. Polanski to be booked and immediately released on bail, require Mr. Polanski to meet with the probation department, order a probation report, conduct a hearing, and terminate probation without Mr. Polanski having to serve any additional time in custody. That there was a deal worked out between Judge Fidler and Mr. Dalton was reported in the New York Daily News as early as October 1, 1997.

"One of the issues raised by Mr. Dalton during the meeting was the question of media coverage. All understood that any proceedings would be open to the public as required by law. During the meeting, Mr. Dalton pressed Judge Fidler for a resolution of the case that would allow for minimal news media.

"Mr. Dalton recalled that Judge Fidler would require television coverage at the proposed hearing due to the controversy. Mr. Gunson recalls television coverage discussed at the meeting. Mr. Dalton told documentary director Marina Zenovich of this requirement.

"It is our shared view that Monday's false and reprehensible statement by the Los Angeles Superior Court continues their inappropriate handling of the Polanski case."

Wow!

Nevertheless, HBO caved into the public relations onslaught by the Los Angeles County Superior Court Publicity machine (which included a former employee of TMZ.com--who attempted to spin media coverage of the documentary and related scandal), and edited the revelations about the Fidler meeting out of HBO’s broadcast of the acclaimed documentary. (Note that this joint statement was also signed by a former Polanski case prosecutor.)

Thank you Los Angeles County Superior Court and Judge Fidler for this censorship on a public issue of critical importance—all the more so in view of Polanski’s curiously timed extradition arrest by Swiss police last week. (Not that you had a guilty conscience or anything--no way.)

Curiously timed because the director has traveled freely between his home in France (where Polanski is a citizen) and his home in Switzerland—a home that Polanski has openly traveled to for decades. And because a key hearing in Polanski’s California appeal from the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s denial of Polanski’s motion to dismiss the director’s indictment based on judicial misconduct was previously set by the court of appeal in LA for September 21, 2009—then continued. (Polanski v. Superior Court Los Angeles County, court of appeal No. B217290 .)

Stay tuned folks, because this story is going to get interesting, Real interesting.

And with the powerhouse legal combination of the Dalton brothers + Chad S. Hummel of legal behemoth Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP behind Polanski (not to mention European support for Polanski as well as by the alleged victim herself) do not expect these issues to be swept under the rug. (Unless, the whole case was abruptly dismissed, in face saving fashion--at the "request" of the victim--of course.)

Related: Regarding that Roman Polanski documentary (LA Observed, Kevin Roderick, June 11, 2008)

5:53 PM UPDATE: Here is the Motion to Dismiss (pdf) and the Victim's Declaration (pdf).

Also, please see this post on Talk Left: Outrageous Arrest in Switzerland: Free Roman Polanski