Entertainment
California court orders unsealing of transcripts related to the Roman Polanski sex abuse case
Polanski pleaded responsible in 1977 to 1 rely of illegal sexual activity with a 13-year-old lady. He fled the nation to France earlier than a sentencing listening to and stays a fugitive.
CNN has reached out to his consultant for remark.
In 2014, Samantha Geimer, the sufferer within the case, requested the court docket unseal the transcripts of then-Deputy District Lawyer Roger Gunson’s deposition and examine alleged judicial misconduct. Geimer has been notified of the court docket’s determination, the district legal professional’s workplace stated.
“My request has repeatedly been denied. I have been advised that Mr. Polanski should give up himself to the American authorities so as to have the misconduct on this case investigated. Additional, the testimony should stay sealed until there’s an investigation. I imagine this reply is disingenuous,” Geimer wrote to the LA district legal professional’s workplace final month as she pushed for the discharge of knowledge.
“This case has been described by the courts as ‘one of many longest-running sagas in California prison justice historical past,” Gascón stated in an announcement on Tuesday. “For years, this workplace has fought the discharge of knowledge that the sufferer and public have a proper to know. After cautious consideration of the sufferer’s needs, the distinctive and extraordinary circumstances that led to his conditional examination and my dedication to transparency and accountability for all within the justice system, my workplace has decided it to be within the curiosity of justice to conform to the unsealing of those transcripts.”
In a 2010 interview with CNN, Geimer stated she didn’t wish to cope with the media circus surrounding the director if he have been to ever return to the US and she or he thought the decide in Polanski’s case had been dishonest with him.
“We’re happy the appellate court docket agreed with each the sufferer and our workplace in regards to the want for transparency,” Gascón stated in response to the choice. “The court docket’s determination helped us transfer towards upholding our duty to inform the general public the reality, and to take heed to survivors. We hope it offers her a small measure of assurance that finally, she will be able to have some measure of closure on this decades-long litigation.”
The workplace is uncertain when or how rapidly the court docket will unseal the paperwork.
The district legal professional stated Tuesday that he would not object to unsealing the transcripts and filed a request with the court docket asking for his or her launch.
“The Gunson deposition was successfully a post-plea evidentiary listening to on judicial and prosecutorial misconduct — fairly than a conditional examination to protect the testimony of a sufferer or witness for trial — and the security points often current in circumstances the place conditional examinations are used should not current on this case,” Gascón stated in his submitting. “Thus the transcript must be unsealed.”
CNN has sought remark from Gunson.