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)

ROMAN POLANSKI A FREE MAN—SWISS DENY US EXTRADITION

Roman Polanski waives goodbye to US criminal charges

****Breaking News****

By Blogonaut

Swiss authorities have rejected the pending request to extradite the award winning director Roman Polanski to Los Angeles, California to face sentencing on a 33 year old statutory rape case there involving the alleged sexual intercourse with a minor who has since opposed any further punishment for the director. (See our prior coverage, here--scroll down.)

Swiss authorities had little comment when thy announced that Polanski was released from house arrest and free to return to his native France:

"The reason for the decision lies in the fact that it was not possible to exclude with the necessary certainty a fault in the US extradition request, although the issue was thoroughly examined. Moreover, also the principles of State action deriving from international public order were taken into account."

Translation: We have had enough of the United States dictating to the Swiss. Earlier this year the Swiss caved under tremendous pressure from the United States Department of State and US Justice Department to violate Swiss law and release the names of 4,000 US suspected tax evaders with numbered accounts in Swiss Bank UBS. In addition, Los Angeles prosecutors refused to unseal and provide to the Swiss certain testimony from former members of the Office of the District Attorney for Los Angeles County calling into question the integrity of the process leading to Polanski's fugitive status.

In our opinion, the Swiss finally said: “enough is enough”.

READ MORE: Roman Polanski's victim wants case to finally end (latimes.com)

POLANSKI REQUESTS UNSEALING OF CORRUPTION EVIDENCE

Following our breaking report of a Los Angeles Appeals Court panel ruling refusing to unseal recent testimony pointing to possible skulduggery by (former) prosecutors and the (now dead) sentencing judge, the fugitive director has now made that explicit request in the trial court.

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The appeals panel was reluctant to grant Polanski's request, on the technical ground that Polanski's lawyers had not yet formally made the unsealing request to the trial judge before presenting his "writ' application (which is a form of prejudgment request for appellate review that is heard on the merits in a tiny percentage of all cases).

Roman Polanski's lawyers asked a judge Thursday to unseal secret testimony by the original prosecutor in the director's 33-year-old sex case to help Swiss authorities decide his extradition case—LAT reporter Linda Dutch reports in a Associated Press story filed 60 minutes ago.

Attorneys Chad Hummel and Bart Dalton said they need to submit the testimony of retired Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson to Swiss authorities who are pondering whether to extradite Polanski to the U.S. after decades as a fugitive.

The motion said the transcripts will prove the extradition request is based on false and incomplete statements by the Los Angeles district attorney's office.

"These transcripts are urgently needed," the motion said, seeking a May 10 hearing before Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza.

Gunson testified this year in what is known as a conditional examination. Such proceedings reserve the testimony of a witness who might not be available for future hearings. Espinoza kept the transcripts sealed based on his interpretation of the law governing such examinations. The defense said the interpretation is wrong.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys were present at the closed sessions in February and March, and the defense paraphrased portions of Gunson's testimony from its own notes in a petition to the state appellate court.

Defense lawyers want to provide his exact words to the Swiss authorities.

They noted the district attorney's office previously asked that all hearings and conferences in the case be public "so as to appropriately respect the public's right to know." They argued that the same right to transparency should apply now.

District attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said prosecutors would reserve any comment on the motion for its legal filings.

Meanwhile, as extensively reported here--scroll down the acclaimed septuagenarian director remains under house arrest in his Swiss residence in way-cool Gstaad.

LA PROSECUTORS: POLANSKI VICTIM HAS NO SAY IN THE MATTER

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prosecutors on Friday urged a California appeals court to deny a bid by the victim in Roman Polanski's sex crime to have the decades-old case against the film director thrown out.

In court documents, prosecutors said Samantha Geimer, who was 13 years old when unlawful sex charges were brought against Polanski in 1977, has "no right or authority to dictate the outcome of a criminal case."

Geimer has long sought to end the long-running legal case, arguing that she has become a victim of the battle to bring the fugitive director to justice.

"Samantha Geimer was first victimized by Polanski. Whatever harm was done to her 33 years ago by Polanski is now a memory. Samantha Geimer is currently victimized by the judicial system in the maintenance of a prosecution, stale of fact and devoid of current purpose," her lawyer rgued in court papers.

Geimer was an aspiring child model in 1977 who went to a Hollywood house for a photo-shoot with Polanski. Now a mother of three children who lives quietly in Hawaii, she publicly forgave the director in 1997.

Polanski, now 76, pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with a minor but fled California in 1978 before being sentenced because he thought the judge at the time would make him spend more time in jail than he had agreed to in a plea bargain.

The Oscar-winning director of "The Pianist" was arrested in Switzerland in September last year on a U.S. warrant and is currently under house arrest in Switzerland.

Swiss officials have said they are awaiting the result of U.S. legal proceedings before deciding whether to extradite him.

Prosecutors have demanded Polanski return to California for sentencing, which could see him spending years in jail.

But Polanski's Los Angeles lawyers are trying to have him sentenced in his absence to the 42 days he already served in 1978 for a psychiatric evaluation. They have also claimed judicial misconduct in the original case.

Read more: Prior Blogonaut Coverage HERE