Legal Commentary

Swiss Put Polanski Extradition on Hold Pending CA Ruling

By Jeralyn

The spokesman for the Swiss Ministry today told the Associated Press that Switzerland will not act on the extradition request for Roman Polanski until a California appeals court rules on his appeal of the trial court's denial of his motion to be sentenced in absentia.

"The Justice Ministry will decide on the extradition only after the California Court of Appeal has decided whether to hold proceedings in absentia," Galli said. "This action allows the extradition process to adapt to the US proceedings."

The prosecution filed its brief yesterday urging Polanski's return. I haven't found a copy of either Polanski or the state's latest briefs anywhere, so I can't say which is stronger. But I continue to believe Polanski is getting a very raw deal here and the case should be dismissed due to the improper conduct of the judge. The newly discovered notes of DA Gunson confirm the Judge promised no more than 90 days, and the extradition treaty doesn't apply to such short sentences. [More...]

As I wrote here, in discussing the treaty,

The way I see it, or at least the argument I'd make, is that since the sentence had partially been served, the legal question to be decided by the Swiss is not what could he have been sentenced to, but how much time remained to be served. Since everyone, including the current Judge, agrees the original Judge intended to and promised to impose no more than 90 days, and Roman served 42 of them, there is less than four or six months remaining on his sentence and the request doesn't comply with the U.S.- Swiss treaty or Swiss law.

This is such a waste of California's judicial and prosecutorial resources. Dismiss the case already. Free Roman.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 31, 2010 (boomark / email).