Roman Polanski's freedom -- and unmitigated gall By Eugene Robinson Tuesday, July 13, 2010 For Roman Polanski, the long, unspeakable nightmare of being confined to his three-story chalet in Gstaad, the luxury resort in the Swiss Alps, is finally over. The fugitive director is free once again to stroll into town, have a nice meal, maybe do a little shopping at the local Cartier, Hermes or Louis Vuitton boutiques....
Anyone tempted to feel Polanski's pain should take a closer look at the case. In 1977, when he was 43, Polanski lured a 13-year-old girl to a house in the Hollywood hills owned by Jack Nicholson -- the actor was not home at the time -- and plied her with drugs and champagne before having sex with her. Polanski and his lawyers claimed that the sex was consensual. That's absurd as a legal argument, since the girl was too young to give her consent. But the girl's grand jury testimony makes clear that this was anything but a no-fault romp. She testified that Polanski, on the ruse of photographing her and wanting to make her a star, persuaded her to pose nude and then assaulted her. She testified that Polanski raped and sodomized her, against her will, and that she was distraught before, during and after the act. The director was indicted on six felony charges, including rape by use of drugs and child molestation, but he was allowed to plead guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse. Polanski, who spent about a month and a half in jail, thought he had a deal that would get him off with nothing worse than 90 days in confinement under psychiatric observation. But when the judge had second thoughts about going through with such a lenient deal, Polanski fled. He has been on the lam ever since._ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/12/AR2010071203021.html_ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/12/AR2010071203021.html?hpid=opinionsbox1) SURVIVORSHIP WEBINAR, SATURDAY, July 24 change Please note that Alison Miller and Flower have traded months and that the date for the July Webinar has changed. Dr. Miller will be our next presenter, on July 24. OUR NEXT WEBINAR: Saturday, July 24, noon to 2:00 Pacific time Alison Miller, Ph.D., "Self-injury, Flashbacks, and Flooding as Programmed Responses, and How to Deal with Them." _http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html_ (http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html)
