LOS ANGELES PROSECUTORS MISLEAD LA COURT IN POLANSKI CASE, LETTER FROM SWISS GOVERNMENT SHOWS

More misconduct in Polanski case caused Swiss to deny extradition

July 15, 2010
By Blogonaut

SEE BOMBSHELL UPDATE (DOJ THROWS LA PROSECUTORS UNDER THE BUS)--SCROLL DOWN.

According to an Associated Press story today, the Swiss Justice Ministry has released a letter asserting in effect that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza (who refused to release the sealed transcripts that would have shown whether or not Polanski had already served his agreed sentence) was mislead by Los Angeles prosecutors when they told the court on in papers on May 6, 2010 and later at a May 10, 2010 hearing that the Swiss never requested the transcripts.

Judge Espinoza cited the lack of any request by the Swiss for the information as a reason for refusing to make the sealed testimony of a former Los Angeles prosecutor familiar with what went on in with the case 1978 available for the extradition proceeding.

In reality, the Swiss had already made that formal written request to the United States Department of Justice on May 5, 2010, and the Swiss were told on May 13, 2010 that the rquest would not be honored.

Los Angeles prosecutors now claim that Justice Department officials never informed them of the request—so the right hand did not know what the left hand was doing when they (unknowingly, they say) mislead the court.

Regardless of whether the Justice Department concealed that critical information from Los Angeles prosecutors or whether prosecutors simply lied to the court to keep their 33 year old dirty laundry under seal, let's not be too quick to condemn the Swiss—who said all along that they would not extradite Polanski to the United States unless it could be shown that the director had not already served the sentence that he agreed to in the plea bargain with the court and prosecutors.


Read More: In letter, Swiss cite key reason for refusal to extradite Polanski (Linda Deutsch-AP)

UPDATE (7/15/2010):

It now appears that the Los Angeles prosecutors deliberately mislead Judge Peter Espinoza—who was told in prosecution filings on May 6, 2010 and at a May 10, 2010 hearing that the Swiss had not requested the release of the sealed transcripts, and who based his denial of Polanski’s request that those transcripts be made available to the Swiss in connection with the pending extradition matter.

An AP story filed two hours ago, the Justice Department said today that the Los Angeles district attorney's Office approved the denial of a Swiss request for information in the Roman Polanski case.

The Justice Department said that it kept the district attorney's office fully informed of all requests from Swiss authorities regarding the effort to have Polanski extradited to the United States.

The department said the DA's office provided input and "approved all responses from the U.S. government to Swiss authorities on this matter," including one rejecting a request to turn over sealed testimony that proved pivotal in Switzerland's decision to free Polanski.

"The Department of Justice and the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office worked in close coordination on this important extradition request," Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said in an e-email.

It would very much appear at this point that the Justice Department is throwing Los Angeles prosecutors under the bus by providing evidence that prosecutors deliberately mislead the court to keep its 33 year old dirty laundry under seal.

Wow!

We would not want to be the prosecutor who represented to the court that the Swiss never asked for the transcripts—when in fact they had.

Read more: Justice Dept: LA DA kept informed in Polanski case (AP)