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.

LOS ANGELES COURT OF APPEAL DENIES POLANSKI PETITION

******BREAKING NEWS*******

By Blogonaut
April 22, 2010

Acting summarily, the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District today denied fugitive actor Roman Polanski’s alternative request for a dismissal of the 33 year old sex charges or to unseal the new evidence of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct so the Swiss Authorities may consider that testimony.

The appellate panel decision was short and sweet:

“By petition for writ of mandate filed March 18, 2010, petitioner requests relief from this Court on the basis of new evidence and ask this Court to overturn the magistrates's order sealing a conditional examination transcript. Petitioner has failed to present this evidence to and request his desired relief from the trial court. (Phelan v. Superior Court (1950) 35 Cal.2d 363, 372; Safai v. Savia (2008) 164 Cal. App.4th 233, 243), and he has not established that he lacks an adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law. (Code Vil. (sic) Proc., sec. 1086.) Petitioner has also failed to demonstrate that the trial court lacked the discretion under Penal Code section 1193 to refuse to approve Petitoner's absence at sentencing. The petitioner for writ of mandate is Summarily denied.”

In a separate order the same court also denied Polanski 40 year old victim Samantha Geimer’s petition asking for the right to join in Polanski’s dismissal request.

This latest development in the 33 year old case clears the way for the Swiss government to act on Polanski’s bid to have extradition proceedings pending in that country dismissed.

The award winning director has been under house arrest in a gilded cage since his arrest by Swiss authorities under the United States extradition warrant.

This "summary denial" means that Los Angeles prosecutors will not be able to use the decision against Polanski should he be returned to the United States for further court proceedings since the denial was not on the merits of the director's claims.

FRENCH PRESIDENT DELIVERS POLANSKI LETTER TO OBAMA

Fugitive director Roman Polanski wrote a letter to Barack Obama asking for the president's help with efforts to be sentenced in absentia in his 33-year-old sex-with-a-minor case. The correspondence was delivered to the American leader by Polanski supporter and French President Nicolas Sarkozy during his recent visit to Washington, D.C., French news outlet L'Express reports.

See our prior coverage, here. (Click, then scroll down from this post.)

The Swiss authorities have put Polanski’s extradition proceedings on hold until the California Court of Appeal acts on the director’s and the victim’s respective pending California Court of appeal petitions to dismiss the 33 year old case for judicial and prosecutorial misconduct and/or to at least transmit the testimony proving the misconduct to the Swiss authorities who are holding the 77 award winning director in a gilded cage.

Stay tuned folks.

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