Polanski May Take His Chances in US

As Roman Polanski faces months in jail, Hollywood elite rally around him

(NEWSER) - The sister of Roman Polanski’s murdered second wife, Sharon Tate, says his crime was not rape. "There's rape and then there's rape,” Debra Tate tells MSNBC, and what happened between Polanski and his 13-year-old victim was “a consensual matter.” More from the Polanski saga:

• Fake IDs, disguises, maybe a bad dye job? Not for Roman Polanski. His life on the lam has been one of luxury, from a penthouse in a glitzy Paris shopping district to a vacation chalet at a swanky Swiss ski resort, reports the New York Daily News.

Rape of a 13-year-old 'is not a technicality'

(NEWSER) - The US is "deeply disappointed" by the Swiss decision to free film director Roman Polanski, and authorities are considering what action to take, said a Justice Department official. Polanksi, 76, was freed after 9 months under house arrest when the Swiss Justice Ministry refused to comply with America's "flawed" extradition request that the director be sent back to Los Angeles to serve his sentence for sex with a minor, reports CNN . The US "believes that the rape of a 13-year-old child by an adult is a crime," and will continue to seek justice, declared Assistant Secretary of State PJ Crowley. More»

Move gave LA prosecutors time to whip up arrest warrant

(AP) - Swiss authorities set in motion the arrest of fugitive director Roman Polanski in his decades-old child sex case as he traveled to the country last month, emails obtained by the AP show. The Swiss Federal Office of Justice alerted US law enforcement Sept. 22 that Polanski, 76, was due in Zurich, and wanted to know if the US would submit a request for his arrest. More»

Fugitive director vows not to flee if he makes bail

(NEWSER) - A stint in a Zurich prison has left Roman Polanski "depressed" and "dejected," and the longtime fugitive will promise to stay in Switzerland should he be granted bail, his lawyer says. Polanski, who fled the US in 1977 after pleading guilty to raping a 13-year-old girl, "was in an unsettled state of mind" during a visit, the lawyer says. If bail is granted, "he would fulfill all the conditions and stay in Switzerland until the extradition proceeding are decided." More»

Confessed rapist 'has never shown remorse'

(NEWSER) - The Swiss government's decision to free Roman Polanski on a technicality is bad enough; the fact that a lawyer for the filmmaker and confessed rapist called the move "a great relief after the pain suffered by Roman Polanski and his family" is "the definitive textbook example of unmitigated gall," Eugene Robinson writes for the Washington Post . "As long as he steers clear of US justice, why don't we steer clear of his movies?" More»