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Toxic Relationships

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Thought For The Day...Discovery

"Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you,

they're supposed to help you discover who you are."

Roman Polanski: Crazy never takes a day off...

Please, someone tell me what would possess any reasonably sane individual to rise in defense of a man who at 44 years old, admitted having sex with a 13-year-old child? Is my moral compass off so much that it is now acceptable to admit to sexual acts with children? Should you be given a "pass" because you absconded from the jurisdiction of the criminal justice system 30 years ago because you thought you were going to have to go to jail?

I'm sorry Hollywood, I got my legal training in Texas and my practical experience in Brooklyn and where I come from, when a grown ass man has sexual intercourse with a 13 year old little girl, whether it's 3 days, 3 months or 30 yrs ago...it's called RAPE. Whether she was "experienced", a "virgin", or a victoria secret model in a g-string...it's called RAPE. Whether the victim forgives the assailant, doesn't want him to go to jail or saw his latest movie...it's called RAPE. Whether he is a school bus driver, a priest, a teacher or a world class director...people, it is called RAPE.

The fact that anyone has to explain this, argue this or even entertain the discussion is absolutely ludicrous. I know the victim has had to carry this burden for 30 years and wants the case dropped so she can put this whole sordid event behind her...but sorry, she isn't the only one a criminal case is about. She may have been satisfied with time and a civil settlement; but justice has not been served and society needs to know that this is wrong.

Thirty years ago, Roman Polanski pled guilty in open court to having had "unlawful sexual intercourse" with a girl who was not his wife that he "knew to be 13 years old" at the time; and that was the lowest level sex crime in the indictment. The original allegations and subsequent grand jury testimony of the young girl as to what happened is so graphic...it wasn't released to the public until years later. Not to obscure this debate with facts...but this young girl told the court and authorities that Polanski gave her champagne, drugs, took nude photos, got in the jacuzzi naked with her & performed oral, vaginal & anal sex on a 13-year-old.

If that is not "rape, rape", then I have sent a bunch of folk to jail in my former career as a prosecutor for a hell of a lot less.

Am I advocating that Roman Polanski be jailed or sent to prison for these crimes? Actually I'm not.

Subsequent information has come to light to suggest that his legal team has valid arguments for misconduct, abuse of process and serious grounds for dismissal of the original charges in the interest of justice. I'm in total favor of Polanski exposing the alleged misconduct of the judge & probably having the charges dismissed because of it. But he chose to live all these years as a fugitive and now that he has been caught, he must face the ramifications of all his actions...just like any other person.

Polanski is not above the law, the warrant is still valid, the case is still pending and there are legal procedures that should be followed. Bring him back to the US, allow him to make the arguments for dismissal and decide the case on the facts and the law.

Now "Hollywood" is coming out in support of Roman Polanski trying to apply pressure to the DA's office to drop the case. That is mind boggling to me especially given the comments Roman Polanski made in an interview soon after he left the US for France that were recently unearthed by another journalist. The Telegraph's Michael Deacon dug up an explosive interview that Polanski gave to the novelist Martin Amis in 1979, that included the following quote:

"If I had killed somebody, it wouldn't have had so much appeal to the press, you see? But … fucking, you see, and the young girls. Judges want to fuck young girls. Juries want to fuck young girls. Everyone wants to fuck young girls!" [Telegraph UK]

Let's give him another Oscar!

I recently read the story of a 12 year old little girl who is pregnant down in North Carolina, other than my utter sadness at the sentence I just had to write...if it comes out that her child was fathered by a 44 year old man who babysat her...will we be ok with that?

What about Jaycee Duggard. She was kidnapped at 11 years old & raped repeatedly over 18 years & now has children by her assailant...aren't we prosecuting him? Don't we want this pervert under the jail? Suppose Jaycee said, "it's ok...I love him now...I forgave him years ago"...How would society feel?

Don't we go after abusive priests years after molesting kids?

I'm just asking questions that should make us think about the ramifications of accepting & dismissing deviant behavior when it comes to the abuse of children. Honestly, there is an elite angle to this story that really bothers me. My friend, anthropologist and sociologist Dr. Marc Lamont Hill asked me "I wonder how long Spike Lee would've been allowed to chill in France on a charge like this." That actually made me laugh out loud because if Spike Lee has done some skullduggery like Polanski...no one would be rallying behind him...unless they had a rope!

Why, you ask, is my heart heavy about this case? Because I can't help but remember the story I covered of young Genarlow Wilson from Georgia who at 17 years old was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in state prison for having consensual sex with a 15 year old girl. Wilson was an honor student, a football star and his high school's homecoming king before his conviction. The young girl, her parents and the videotape of the incident all said it was consensual; but the law said it was a crime and the sentence for this felony charge in Georgia was 10 years...mandatory.

Something tells me that Genarlow too knew he was probably going to get screwed over by the justice system before, during and after the trial; but he didn't have a passport, a plane ticket or a European chalet to escape to.

The Georgia law was ultimately changed, but it was not made retroactive to include Genarlow Wilson and he had to serve more than two years of his sentence until the Georgia Supreme Court finally stepped in to right this true injustice. Genarlow was released from prison two years ago this month and is now a student in college...and doing very well.

Who knows...maybe after the famous movie director is finally returned to the US and confronted with American justice, he and his Hollywood friends might want to consider doing a film about Crime, Justice and the American Way...based on a true victim, Genarlow Wilson.