Roman Polanski Poem by gershon hepner

“Roman Polanski is neither above
the law nor is he below it, ” is
what they are saying, because they don’t love
consensual forms of coitus
when they involve a teen, yet they
don’t mind it when the judges bend
the legal rules which in LA
the judges let the D.A.’s bend,
for if you do you’ll end up roamin’
around the world without a chance
of living there, and forced, like Roman,
to live in Switzerland or France,
though come to think of it I could
think of worse place to hang out,
and if I had the money would
consider, without major doubt.

Brook Barnes writes about Roman Polanski’s arrest in Switzerland for a crime a committed more than 31 years ago (“For Studios, Polanski’s Box Office is the Key, ” NYT, October 1,2009) :

In a bizarre twist to Roman Polanski’s renewed legal fight over a 32-year-old sex case, a retired deputy district attorney who triggered claims of official corruption by telling a documentary filmmaker he had coached a judge in the case now says he made it all up. “I’ve got to tell you, I lied, ” David Wells, the former prosecutor, said in a phone interview on Wednesday. “I tried to butter up this story to make me look better.”Mr. Wells’ recantation was first posted by Marcia Clark, a former Los Angeles district attorney who prosecuted the O. J. Simpson murder case, on The Daily Beast Web site. Mr. Wells had no official role in Mr. Polanski’s prosecution, but was assigned to the Santa Monica courthouse where Mr. Polanski was charged in connection with his 1977 sexual encounter with a 13-year-old girl. Mr. Wells’s detailed description of having counseled Judge Laurence J. Rittenband on how to sentence Mr. Polanski, who pleaded guilty to one county of having unlawful sex with a minor, has been at the center of a hot legal fight over the case. Even before Mr. Polanski was arrested last Saturday in Switzerland for possible extradition to the U. S., his lawyers had asked the Los Angeles courts to throw his case out or allow another court to review it, because of alleged corruption in the local judicial system, particularly involving the actions described by Mr. Wells on film. That matter is still pending before a California appellate court. Chad Hummel, a lawyer for Mr. Polanski, declined to comment on Mr. Wells recantation. Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles county district attorney’s office, said: “Anything we have to say will be in legal pleadings or in court.”
Reached in Paso Robles, Calif., on Wednesday, Mr. Wells said he had informed the district attorney’s office of his lie several months ago, and offered to make a formal statement, though none was taken. Mr. Wells said he was publicly recanting now, in order to clear his actions away from other issues in the Polanski case. But he also acknowledged that the conduct he described in the 2007 documentary, “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, ” could have triggered an action against him before the state bar. “If it happened, it would have been unethical, ” Mr. Wells said.
In a July 2008 interview with The New York Times, Mr. Wells stood by his claims in the documentary, and at the time said his discussions with the judge were not improper. ”I didn’t tell him to do it or that he should do it, ” Mr. Wells said of the judge’s decision to put Mr. Polanski in prison for 42 days for psychiatric review. ”I just told him what his options were.” In the documentary, directed by Marina Zenovich, Mr. Wells gave a detailed description of his conversations with Judge Rittenband. At one point, he recalled: “I said, ‘Judge, ’ I said ‘You know, you’re going to give this guy probation.’ He said, ‘No, no, no, I want to send him to jail.’ I said, ‘You’ll never do it. Because the first thing that’s gonna happen when you sentence him is he’s gonna appeal it.’” Mr. Wells next described telling the judge he could send Mr. Polanski to state prison for psychiatric evaluation, which could not be appealed, and, in fact, Judge Rittenband followed that course.
In another encounter described in the film, which was shown on HBO in 2008, Mr. Wells In one encounter, Mr. Wells told Ms. Zenovich ”I was privy to almost everything that went on in that case.” The deputy said he counseled the judge on sentencing. At another, he described prodding Judge Rittenband with a photograph of Mr. Polanski, then on bail, in the company of two young girls at an Oktoberfest celebration. ”Look here. He’s flipping you off, ” Mr. Wells said in the film.Ms. Zenovich could not be reached on Wednesday. “I am embarrassed about the whole thing, ” Mr. Wells said. “I regret it. I embarrassed the DA’s office.”


0/1/09