POLANKSI: UNDERLYING FACTS OF THE CASE NOT AN ISSUE, GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER CAN END THIS BY GRANTING PARDON

Roman Polanski (AP)

ADMONISHMENTS

On August 8, 1977, Roman Polanski pleaded guilty to one of six counts: unlawful sexual contact with a minor. Upon a defendant's plea of guilty, a judge is required to admonish the defendant of a multitude of rights and laws. The defendant is must, the record, verbally state he understands the admonishments.

On the day of Polanski's guilty plea, the prosecutor said he convinced the District Attorney to accept the plea agreement. The judge did NOT say he would agree to such an agreement between the parties.

The Honorable Laurence J. Rittenband admonished Polanski & Polanski stated he understood each admonishment such as:

* He understood he was giving up his right to confront witnesses (p. 9)
* He stated he was guilty of the charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a female person under the age of 18. (p. 10)
* He understood he was pleading guilty to a felony (p. 11)
* He understood the maximum sentence was up to 20 years in prison (p. 11)
* "Mr. Polanski, who  do you believe will decide your sentence will be in this matter"; Polanski, "The judge."(p. 11)
* "Do you understand at this time the Court has not made any decision as to what sentence you will receive? Do you understand the court has not made any decision?" Polanski, "Yes." (p. 12)
* Since you are not a citizen of the United States, a possible sentence of your plea of guilty TODAY may be that you be deported and excluded from this county?" (12)

* Interestingly, the judge did not admonish the defendant of his right to withdraw his plea of guilty. Generally, the Defendant has 30 days from the date of his plea to do so. Polanski did not withdraw his plea of guilty.

Instead, after he was released from his 42-day stint in jail for a mental evaluation, he fled the country in fear of the judge's imposition of an additional sentence. Understand that he was not sentenced for the crime. He was ordered to complete an evaluation. The record does not reflect he was being sentenced but instead complied with a pre-sentence mental evaluation. I do not understand how people are confusing a pre-sentence investigation of sorts with a sentence!

As a defense attorney, it sounds like the prosecutor and the defense attorney spoke to the judge in his chambers and the judge said he wouldn't sentence him to additional time if the evaluation came back clean. Polanski's attorney probably conveyed this to his client, even though no agreement was ever stated on the record. This is a classic example how a judge can "forget"; discussions in chambers and can use the "It's not on the record" excuse to renege an agreement. I've been in conferences just like this where, at a later date, the judge doesn't remember the previous conversation and agreement. Interesting that the court file in Polanski's case is missing.

POLANSKI'S STIPULATION TO THE FACTS & FAILURE TO FILE MOTIONS

I respectfully disagree with certain writers, such as Gerald Posner, who go into great detail about the underlying facts of the case, witness availability and any other matters as they relate to the crime of 1977.Polanksi pleaded guilty to the charges, waived his right to confront witnesses and stipulated to the facts as they were read into the record.

Regardless of the possibility that the judge was going to renege his off-the-record agreement on the final sentence, Polanski's attorney did NOT file a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Nor did they file a Writ of Habeus Corpus. As a result, Polanski waived his right to withdraw his plea of guilty. Since he filed no additional motions, the underlying facts of the case are not in dispute.

BEST OPTION FOR POLANSKI - SCHWARZENEGGER PARDON

I suggest Polanski does not fight extradition. Instead, I think the best thing for Polanski to do is come back to the United States and seek a Governor's pardon from California Governor Schwarzenegger.

The governor of the state where a state crime occurred, has the absolute power to pardon a person. Reasons for a pardon can be based on innocence or rehabilitation. Polanski clearly is not innocent of the crime.

Schwarzenegger can grant Polanski a pardon based on his rehabilitation and his extraordinary contribution to society since his 1977 crime.

 www.xpunged.com and www.tamaraholder.com

Comments

[carlgh]

Any rational man would have skated. Now at age 76, there are huge national/state resources working the extradition of the guy that, is yet to be convicted of any crime, and will probably defeat any prosecution (especially if Tamara is the defense), would probably serve no time, then may be deported.
This is just a big waste of time. I think California has bigger problems.
Thanks for putting the options on the line.

[tigerfan]

Tamara is adorable, smart and witty...my kind of woman except that she chose the dark side of the legal system. In her article she states:

"As a defense attorney, it sounds like the prosecutor and the defense attorney spoke to the judge in his chambers and the judge said he wouldn't sentence him to additional time if the evaluation came back clean. Polanski's attorney probably conveyed this to his client, even though no agreement was ever stated on the record. This is a classic example how a judge can "forget"; discussions in chambers and can use the "It's not on the record" excuse to renege an agreement. I've been in conferences just like this where, at a later date, the judge doesn't remember the previous conversation and agreement. Interesting that the court file in Polanski's case is missing."

That is pure speculation on the part of Mrs. Holder and although I am no attorney, common sense dictates that such speculation is worth nothing in a court of law. Fact is this pervert raped a child and supplied her with a narcotic and instead of face judgement, fled the country. I hope they extradite Polanski and sentence him to the max, not for the rape but rather for fleeing.

If Mrs. Holder advises her clients to flee the country, rather than facing justice then I have lost a lot of respect for her. But damn she's a cutie.