Forever Roman

[rucus7]

And innocent men sometimes plead guilty to reduced charges if they think it will save them 50 years in prison.

I guess it is possible ....... About as often as green monkeys fly out of your ass ....

[Beer Chang]

I guess it is possible ....... About as often as green monkeys fly out of your ass ....

It's not about guilt or innocence. It's about a risk/reward ratio and the probabilty of the verdict.

Let's put it this way. Let's say if you go to trial you have a chance to lose go to prison for 10 years and get raped everyday. You might take a plea bargain if the deal is a suspended sentence and community service.

[smoker]

I spent 10 years covering the criminal court system for the state of New Jersey. I can think of a dozen cases that I know about where guys were released after taking plea deals and pleading guilty a few years later when the cops discovered some other guy had done it.

These were the ones where the cops eventually figured out who really did it and wanted to get that new person badly enough where they were willing to admit it to the press. How many cases do you think occurred where the cops never realized they fucked up.

Here's the deal. I don't know about you but if the prosecutors office said to me: "Hey we are going to put a little girl on the stand and she's going to be very convincing and the jury is going to feel sorry for her and want to punish someone. Now you can either plead guilty now and do six months or risk the jury believing her and do 50 years" I might be tempted to plead guilty even if I didn't do it.

[WannaGo]

You're right, this is not uncommon, particularly when the defendant is poor, young or black, especially in dope cases. I even knew of a guy who was going to go down on a homicide charge because the cops had a confession and his PD told him to take the 15-year deal the prosecutor was offering, instead of risking the life sentence he could have gotten after trial. Only he hadn't actually done it...he was just stupid and made the confession as a way of getting back at his girlfriend over a fight (refer back to the stupid part). Fortunately it got worked out, but the guy was ready to enter a plea.

Having said that, I haven't seen anything at this point to convince me that was the case with Polanski. He's had 30 years to make his case to the public that he did not have sex with the girl and did not force her, but I've never seen anything like that, although, to be fair, I haven't followed the case closely. Still, if this happened to me, and I didn't do it, I'd be shouting that from the mountaintops, not complaining about how the judge didn't play fair with me.

Frankly, I'm tired of this guy and his clown show already. He's old...surely he'll die soon, right?

[smoker]

He really couldn't shout from the rooftops. In an effort to get this behind him he made a deal with the girl part of which was that he would not discuss the case or challenge her or her mother publically.

[Wino]

Maybe Roman will be visiting the USA, again. See the following.

By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER and BALZ BRUPPACHER, Associated Press Writers Bradley S. Klapper And Balz Bruppacher, Associated Press Writers –

BERN, Switzerland – Roman Polanski lost the first round Tuesday in his battle to avoid extradition to the U.S. for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl. Already locked in a Zurich cell for the last dozen days, Polanski learned he will remain incarcerated for an extended period as the Swiss Justice Ministry rejected his plea to be released from custody.

Full story at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091006/ap_on_re_eu/eu_switzerland_polanski

[smoker]

I wonder why they consider him a flight risk.

[lvdkeyes]

Probably because he has the money and wherewithall to fly away.

[WannaGo]

Oops.

Frédéric Mitterrand admitted to paying for sex with 'young boys’ in Thailand

Frédéric Mitterrand, France’s culture minister, was under pressure to resign after it emerged that he had admitted to paying “young boys†for sexual acts while on holiday in Thailand.

The revelations in his 2005 autobiography “The Bad Life†have come back to haunt Mr Mitterrand after he emerged as one of the most vociferous defenders of Roman Polanski, the film director currently detained in Switzerland in connection with an outstanding conviction for unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl in the US in 1977.

In his book, Mr Mitterrand, the nephew of the late Socialist president François Mitterrand, wrote: “I got into the habit of paying for boys...All these rituals of the market for youths, the slave market excite me enormously.

“One could judge this abominable spectacle from a moral standpoint but it pleases me beyond the reasonable.â€

Curiously, there was little outcry when the book was published in 2005. However, Mr Mitterrand’s tastes were brought to the fore on Monday by Marine Le Pen, daughter of the far-right National Front leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, on a political chat show.

More

[smoker]

I can't imagine that bothering anyone in France - a country where weird sexual stuff is somewhat expected.

[lvdkeyes]

Because the French are the lovers of the world. AHEM!!!!

[Wino]

The French have a good attitude towards sex. What you do in your private sex life is no big deal. Concerning sex, I believe, as the Thai's say, "up to you." Bring in the right wing and the religious fanatics and you have the American attitude towards sex.

[WannaGo]

What caught my attention in what he wrote was that he referred to them as "boys," which of course leaves a certain impression, and that he enjoyed the "slave market" aspect of it. Prostitution between consenting adults is one thing -- and I see nothing wrong with it -- but between adults and kids or between adults and other adults who aren't necessarily so willing is something else entirely.

However, Mitterand has now come out and said that all of his paid partners were "consenting adults." He also claims the whole sex tourism thing was a mistake and said of his book that it "in no way is it an apology of sex tourism ... even if one of the chapters is a journey through that hell, with the fascination that hell can provoke." C'mon, if this was just some straight up adult pay-for-play, he shouldn't start backpedaling, especially five years after the book was published. He can just tell anyone who has a problem with it to get stuffed.

But, defending Polanski still probably isn't a good idea.

[smoker]

The thing is in French "mecs" can be translated as "boys" but both women and gay men use it to describe their adult sex partners as well.

Also, the "esclave" can mean either "slave" or "bottom" - so I suspect he was mistranslated.

[Wino]

C'mon, if this was just some straight up adult pay-for-play, he shouldn't start backpedaling, especially five years after the book was published. He can just tell anyone who has a problem with it to get stuffed.

I don't think he was backpedaling, just clarifying. I heard it really was not a big deal in France. I bet the fair and balanced Fox was able to put their slant on the story.

[smoker]

He was explaining because his words were mistranslated and taken out of context.

[WannaGo]

He was explaining because his words were mistranslated and taken out of context.

I'm not buying it. What he wrote seems pretty clear. From the Independent:

"I got into the habit of paying for boys," he wrote. "All these rituals of the market for youths, the slave market excited me enormously... the abundance of very attractive and immediately available young boys put me in a state of desire."

The book, which won critical acclaim and sold 190,000 copies in France, was presented by Mr Mitterrand – then a popular television presenter – as an "autobiography which is half real and half dreamed". It remains to be seen whether the suggestion that his descriptions of sex tourism were not strictly autobiographical will allow him to save his career. The memoir includes lurid scenes in male brothels in Thailand and Indonesia where boys are presented to Western tourists.

Nope, he meant what he wrote...that he enjoyed his sex tourism in Thailand. Fine, like I said before, if it was all between willing adults, who cares? But I hate when politicians and other public figures do this...they say, or in this case write, something that draws criticism, and then suddenly, it's "Oh, oops, no I actually meant something else."

Christ, if you are going to live in the public eye, have the balls to stick to your convictions. If you said it, frigging own it. Tell anyone who doesn't like it to go off into a corner and self-copulate.

This kind of thing was what disappointed me about Natalie Maines, from the Dixie Chicks, a few years ago after she popped off about Bush at that concert in London. When she started getting heat for it, she turned around and apologized...then later un-apologized, but by then it was too late.

[lvdkeyes]

People in the public eye need to be careful about what they say (or write). Many times it will come back to bite them in the ass. Anita Bryant and Debbie Boone come to mind. Sometimes, it's better to just shut up.

[Beer Chang]

Lvdkeyes and I will never be Senators then!

[Bob]

People in the public eye need to be careful about what they say (or write). Many times it will come back to bite them in the ass. Anita Bryant and Debbie Boone come to mind. Sometimes, it's better to just shut up.

The best example of that might be Jesse Ventura as Governor of Minnesota (when he said in part in a Playboy interview: "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers"). I didn't disagree a bit with what he said but I was rather shocked that he was dumb enough to say it in public.

[lvdkeyes]

That was really dumb given the mentality of the moral majority.

[WannaGo]

I respect those who speak their true minds. Of course, I know they won't last long in the public eye, but I still respect them. Even though he was talking out of his ass, I love that Obama had the stones to say the police "acted stupidly," and that, not talking out of his ass, Kanye is a "jackass."

[Wino]

Here is the latest with Polanski's request for bail in Switzerland.

By Bradley S. Klapper, Associated Press Writer – Tue Oct 20, 2009 GENEVA – Roman Polanski's three decades as a fugitive are coming back to haunt him.

Noting his previous escape from U.S. authorities, Switzerland's top criminal court on Tuesday rejected Polanski's appeal to be released from prison because of the "high" risk that the 76-year-old director would try to flee again.

Polanski's offers of bail, house arrest and electronic monitoring failed to sway the tribunal. Even a Swiss chalet in the luxury resort of Gstaad was brushed aside as insufficient collateral to guard against Polanski fleeing the country, as the United States seeks to have him extradited for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.

"The appellant has already once in 1978 eluded American criminal proceedings by traveling to Europe," the Federal Criminal Court said in its 17-page verdict, adding that Polanski's transfer to the U.S. could also cause family trauma and cost investors millions of dollars in losses.

"As a result, the motivation to flee is high," it said.

http://news.yahoo.co...erland_polanski

[WannaGo]

"As a result, the motivation to flee is high," it said.

Ya think?

[Wino]

Polanski may give in and face charges in the US, according to this article. Here is a quote. "If the procedure drags on, it is not impossible that Roman Polanski could choose to go and explain himself in the United States, where there are some arguments in his favor," he said.U.S. authorities have until the end of November to make a firm extradition request. Judicial sources say the process could take years if Polanski challenges it."

Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_polanski;_ylt=AvKw5eyu_m8MkScStzPFcNpzfNdF