Roman Polanski Media Reports Archive

News reports and legal information related to Roman Polanski's arrest, plea bargain, guilty plea, conviction, flight from justice, and fugitive status on charges of drugging and raping a 13- year-old girl in 1977. Please note: because there are so many cyber-chumps who "trust the Web," and because rumors, myths, and outright disinformation have been generated and disseminated concerning Roman Polanski, The Zero has established a "one-stop shop" for purely factual information, so that those actually interested in the truth can find it. What you will not find here is commentary, editorials, analysis, opinion, or hearsay. If that's what you are looking for, go find a newsgroup. If you want the truth, here it is.

March, 1977 Grand Jury Testimony of Polanski's victim.

Polanski Named in Rape Charge

Originally published in The Washington Post, March 13, 1977

LOS ANGELES, March 12, 1977 — Polish film director Roman Polanski, widower of murdered actress Sharon Tate, was free on bond today on charges of luring a 13-year-old girl to the home of Jack Nicholson under the pretext of photographing her, then drugging and raping her.

Polanski, 43, was arrested by police to Beverly Wilshire Hotel Friday night following the incident Thursday night at Nicholson's Bel Air home.

In addition to the rape charges, Polanski also was booked on suspicion of sodomy, child molestation and furnishing dangerous drugs to a minor. He was released on $2,500 bond pending his arraignment March 18.

Nicholson was reportedly out of town at the time. A spokesman for the district attorney's office told reporters that Polanski recently met the girl's mother and arranged for the girl to pose for some photographs for the French edition of Vogue magazine.

He said Polanski took some pictures at a first photographic session two weeks ago, and among these pictures was one of the girl nude from the waist up.

He said the mother became angry when she saw the picture and questioned her daughter when she returned home from the second photographic session Thursday night. Officers said the girl told her mother that Polanski had given her a tablet of the powerful tranquilizing drug Quaalude.

The director then raped the girl and forced her to commit various sex acts with him, police said.

Polanski made no public comment on his arrest. He surrendered peacefully when he was taken into custody at the hotel.

Polanski Indicted on Drug, Rape Charges

Originally published in The Washington Post, March 26, 1977

A grand jury has indicted Roman Polanski, director of "Rosemary's Baby" and other macabre movies, on six counts of drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl at actor Jack Nicholson's home.

Conviction on the charges lodged Thursday could send Polanski to prison for up to 50 years. Polanski, 43, remained free on $2,000 bail and was given until Tuesday to surrender in Superior Court. Prosecutors said Polanski's attorney told them he would appear before then.

The grand jury indictment superseded charges brought March 11 when the director was arrested in the lobby of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel where he was staying.

The grand jury charged Polanski with giving a drug to a minor, committing a lewd act upon a person less than 14, rape of a minor, rape by use of a drug, oral copulation and sodomy. All the charges are felonies.

Personalities Column, by Stephanie A. Lewis

Originally published in The Washington Post, August 10, 1977

Movie director Roman Polanski was ordered to undergo examination by two court-appointed psychiatrists in Los Angeles to determine if he should be institutionalized as a "mentally disordered sex offender" for allegedly having sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.

Polanski, 43, pleaded guilty to one of six charges facing him, thereby avoiding a trial.

The movie director was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor at the request of the girl's mother, who wanted to protect her daughter from the publicity expected to accompany such a trial.

The prosecution agreed to dismiss five other charges, including two more serious counts—furnishing drugs to a minor and rape by use of drugs.

The results of the psychiatric examinations will help determined whether Polanski will be deported as an undesirable alien.

A 90-Day Psychiatric Study for Roman Polanski

Originally published in The Washington Post, September 20, 1977

Movie director Roman Polanski, who had pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl, yesterday was ordered imprisoned for a 90-day psychiatric study to help the judge decide his sentence.

Polanski had contracted to photograph the girl for a French fashion magazine. Prosecutors said he took her to the home of actor Jack Nicholson while Nicholson was away, fed her champagne and Quaaludes, then committed numerous sex acts with her.

The probation report indicated that she consented. The judge said it made no difference.

The technical effect of the judge's decision will be for Polanski to spend some time in prison without having the record of a prison sentence against him unless he is eventually placed behind bars under a formal sentence.

Among the problems Polanski faces is possible deportation. However, the law provides automatic deportation only for those convicted of crimes of moral turpitude who are sentenced to one year or more in prison.

A Roman in Paris

By Jura Koncius
Originally published in The Washington Post, February 3, 1978

Film director Roman Polanski arrived at his Paris apartment yesterday (after a stop in London) having fled the United States just hours before he was to have been sentenced in a California court for his admitted unlawful sexual relations with a 13-year-old girl last March.

Polanski, 44, a French citizen, was said by friends to be exhausted by the 42 days he spent undergoing psychiatric tests.

Polanski's probation report said he was profoundly affected by the brutal murder of his wife, actress Sharon Tate, in 1969. Court sources said the film director, imprisoned in Auschwitz by the Nazis during the World War II, was repelled by the thought of possibly serving more time behind bars.

The British Broadcasting Corp. quoted Polanski as saying by telephone, "I've been tortured by this for a year and that's enough."

The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office announced yesterday it will seek to have Polanski extradited from France.

However, a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice in Paris reaffirmed that French citizens may not be extradited under any circumstances although, he added, French judicial authorities could decide to try the case in France.

Polanski Sentencing

Originally published in The Washington Post, February 15, 1978

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — The "in absentia" sentencing of Roman Polanski was postponed indefinitely yesterday when the film director's lawyer charged that the judge in the case was prejudiced and demanded that he be disqualified.

Polanski, 44, fled to Paris Feb. 2 rather than accept an indicated further prison term on his plea of guilty to "unlawful sexual intercourse" with a 13-year-old girl.

Judge Can't Wait for Polanski, Retires

Originally published in the Los Angeles Times, July 1, 1989

The Los Angeles judge who once vowed to remain on the bench until Roman Polanski returned for sentencing retired Friday, saying, "I can't wait that long," and turned in his gavel.

Superior Court Judge Laurence J. Rittenband, the 83-year-old "judge of the stars" whose legal career spanned 60 years, presided over Elvis Presley's divorce, Marlon Brando's child custody battle, a paternity suit against Cary Grant and the "Billionaire Boys Club" murder trial of Joe Hunt. Rittenband, with his colorful vocabulary and outspoken style, said because of his age it was time to "let someone else do it."

He has fond memories of Elvis and Priscilla Presley who came to his court for a divorce in 1973.

"Elvis was a nice man," he said.

His memories of Polanski are not as fond, he said.

Rittenband issued an arrest warrant for Polanski in 1978 when the director fled to France rather than appear for sentencing after he had been convicted of having unlawful intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.

Polanski Can Fight Sex Case, State Court Says

Lawsuit: The Fugitive Director Can Be Defended Against a Civil Suit Filed by a Woman, Then 13, He Had Intercourse With in 1977

Originally published in the Los Angeles Times, August 22, 1990

A state appeals court says film director Roman Polanski, a fugitive since 1977 when he admitted having sex with a 13-year-old girl, can be defended against a civil suit she has filed.

In a 2-1 ruling, the 2nd District Court of Appeal said Polanski did not forfeit the right to defend against civil claims through his attorney by his "reprehensible, irresponsible and unlawful absence."

A lawyer for the woman said the ruling, handed down Monday, would be appealed to the state Supreme Court. Polanski pleaded guilty in August, 1977, to one charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, in an incident at the home of actor Jack Nicholson. Polanski fled before being sentenced and now lives in Paris.

The civil suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in December, 1988, when the woman was 25, claims assault, battery, false imprisonment and seduction. The woman, identified only as Jane Doe, seeks damages for physical and emotional distress.

Polanski's lawyer filed papers denying the allegations. But Jane Doe's lawyers asked for a ruling declaring Polanski liable by default and barring his lawyer from taking part in the damage proceedings. They argued that a fugitive from justice should not be allowed to use the courts to defend himself.

Superior Court Judge George Dell denied a default and was upheld by the appeals court.

Justice Robert Devich, in the majority opinion, said a fugitive may be denied the right to pursue an appeal of a criminal conviction or to sue for damages. But since it was Jane Doe who took Polanski to court in the civil suit, he can defend himself through his lawyer, Devich said.

He also said Polanski's absence had suspended the normal legal deadline for the woman to file her civil suit, which otherwise might have been dismissed as being late.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Meredith Taylor, assigned to the court for the case, joined Devich's opinion. Justice Rueben A. Ortega dissented from the decision allowing Polanski to defend, saying a court "should not bow to the flagrant demands of a fugitive who refused to acknowledge its authority."

Deal Will End Roman Holiday for Polanski

By Michelle Caruso in Los Angeles and Helen Kennedy in New York
Originally published in the Daily News (New York), October 1, 1997

Twenty years after he fled to Europe to escape punishment for raping a 13-year-old girl, fugitive director Roman Polanski will surrender in Los Angeles, sources confirmed yesterday.

Under a deal worked out in two secret meetings between the judge and Polanski's lawyer, the 63-year-old director won't serve any time in jail, sources said.

Samantha Geimer, who lives in Hawaii with her husband and three sons, went public in March to say she forgave Polanski for drugging her and raping her when she was a starstruck kid. She told London's Mail on Sunday that he should be pardoned. It was not immediately clear when Polanski, director of "Chinatown," "Rosemary's Baby," and "Frantic" might return to Los Angeles.

Since he left Hollywood, his once-bright career has dimmed. He hasn't had a hit since 1979's "Tess," which was shot in France instead of England because he feared being extradited by the British.

The Polish director, whose mother died in a Nazi concentration camp, has had a life as violent as his movies. His 8-months pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate, was murdered by the Manson cult in 1969.

Polanski fled to Paris after being indicted in 1977 on six counts of drugging, raping and sodomizing Geimer, whom he lured to Jack Nicholson's empty house.

Polanski told the girl he wanted to photograph her for Vogue, but instead gave her Quaaludes and champagne and took her to bed. He maintained she was a Lolita who knew all about sex and drugs.

Facing up to 50 years in prison if convicted at trial, Polanski pleaded guilty to one count of statutory rape. The other five counts were dismissed.

Polanski spent 90 days under psychiatric observation. But just before sentencing, facing a possible 50 years in jail, he jumped bail.

The original judge on the case, Superior Court Judge Laurence Rittenband, died several years ago and the case was reassigned to Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler.

In December, Polanski's lawyer, Douglas Dalton, 69, began meeting with Fidler and Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson.

But under the law, the judge has final say on penalties.

Paris Still Home to Polanski

By Bruce Kirkland
Originally published in The Toronto Sun, March 8, 2000

Despite a flurry of new rumours, Roman Polanski says he has no plans to try to return to the United States, which he fled 22 years ago after being convicted of "unlawful sexual intercourse" with a 13-year-old girl he was photographing.

"I don't know if it's resignation or a lack of interest or a fear of the media circus that would happen," Polanski said in a telephone interview from Paris. The rumour mills are just speculation, he says. "Every now and again they propose the notion that I am doing something about it. Then there is a new round of articles about my possible return. There's nothing!"

Polanski left the U.S. in February, 1978, after serving 42 days in jail for psychiatric evaluation prior to final sentencing. He had plea-bargained and pleaded guilty to the least of six charges against him in the case. Reports that the judge was going to put him away for years inspired his flight. The girl is now a housewife in Hawaii and has never been identified.

The Zero thanks Vince V., a third-year law student, for all his work researching and compiling the articles for this archive.