Prosecutor says he lied at Polanski's 1977 trial

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Loog ie toen of nu?
In beide gevallen niet te vertrouwen?
Heb toch al geen hoge pet op van rechtspraak in USA, en dit vergroot het
vertrouwen niet.


Groet / Cees



http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/news-gossip/prosecutor-says-he-lied-at-polanskis-1977-trial-1902894.html

Prosecutor says he lied at Polanski's 1977 trial

Film director's appeal over conviction may be put in jeopardy by revelation

By Guy Adams
Friday October 02 2009

IF ROMAN POLANSKI has been sitting in a Swiss prison cell consoling
himself with the thought that extradition to the US might lead to his
child sex case being swiftly thrown out, he may be forced to think again.

The film director's intended appeal against his conviction has been dealt
a serious blow, after one of the lawyers who had previously admitted being
involved in misconduct during the 1977 trial suddenly decided to change
his story.

David Wells, the prosecutor who last year told an HBO documentary that he
colluded with Mr Polanski's judge to increase his jail sentence, has now
called that claim a complete fabrication. "I'm a guy who cuts to the
chase," he said yesterday. "I lied."

He'd been persuaded to embellish his story after the makers of the
documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired - which was co-produced by
the BBC and won an Emmy for director Marina Zenovich - said it would only
be shown in France. "I know I shouldn't have done it, but I did," admitted
Mr Wells. "The director told me it would never air in the States. I
thought it made a better story if I said I'd told the judge what to do,"
he told legal journalist Marcia Clark.

The revelation may jeopardise Mr Polanski's planned defence. When the
director appealed against his conviction earlier this year, Mr Wells's
comments helped convince a Los Angeles judge that there was evidence of
"substantial misconduct" in his trial.

During the 1977 case, Mr Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with an
underage girl, following a plea bargain intended to prevent his victim, a
13-year-old budding model called Samantha Geimer, from having to give
evidence.

Mr Polanski was sentenced to 90 days of psychiatric evaluation prior to
sentencing. However, he served just 42, before fleeing to France, after
hearing that his judge, the late Laurence Rittenband, was planning to
renege on the plea bargain and send him back to prison.

Last year's HBO documentary alleged that Judge Rittenband, who died in
1993, was motivated by anti-Semitism in his treatment of Mr Polanski,
revealing that he was a member of a county club which barred Jews. The
film also saw Mr Polanski's defence lawyer, Douglas Dalton, and one of his
prosecutors, Roger Gunson, allege misconduct by the judge. Their
criticisms of the trial still stand. However without the support of Mr
Wells, Mr Polanski's attempt to secure a "mistrial" verdict will be
substantially trickier.

Should the US succeed in securing his extradition, the Oscar-winning
director does have another legal option: he could withdraw his guilty plea
and go for a jury trial on all of the crimes he was originally charged
with, hoping that the passage of time will make it harder to prove his
guilt.

That would represent a huge gamble. If convicted, Mr Polanski, 76, could
spend the rest of his life in prison. Even if acquitted, he's likely to
remain in custody throughout the lengthy trial: given his previous form,
it would take a bold judge to grant him bail.

- Guy Adams

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