Roman Polanski: Lolita Lives

In a shocking ruling Monday, a Swiss Court ruled that Roman Polanski would not have to return to the United States and that he would no longer be detained on house arrest. In a stunning ruling, Swiss authorities rejected a United States' request for his extradition to return to answer for a warrant on a 32-year-old sex conviction. Full story here.

In justifying the decision, Switzerland also invoked what it called the “public order” — a lofty notion meaning that governments should ensure their citizens are safe from arbitrary abuse of the law.
The Justice Ministry cited the fact that U.S. authorities hadn’t pursued Polanski in Switzerland previously, even though he’s often visited the country and bought a house here in 2006. It also stressed that the victim, Samantha Geimer, who long ago publicly identified herself, has joined in Polanski’s bid for dismissal.
The acclaimed director of “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Chinatown” and “The Pianist” was accused of plying his victim with champagne and part of a Quaalude during a 1977 modeling shoot and raping her. He was initially indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molesting and sodomy, but pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse.
In exchange, the judge agreed to drop the remaining charges and sentence him to prison for a 90-day psychiatric evaluation. However, he was released after 42 days by an evaluator who deemed him mentally sound and unlikely to offend again.
The judge responded by saying he was going to send Polanski back to jail for the remainder of the 90 days and that afterward he would ask Polanski to agree to a “voluntary deportation.” Polanski then fled the country on the eve of his Feb. 1, 1978, sentencing.