Polanski Case Should Remain A Dead Issue

CLEVELAND - Roman Polanski, creator of some of the greatest films of the past 40 years endured unspeakable tragedy courtesy of Charles Manson and his disciples. He himself was neither perfect nor an angel and his own ancient transgressions have finally come back to bite him.

And unrightfully so.

Polanski, 76 has long been a critically acclaimed director and screenwriter for several classic works including Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown. His successful life hit a roadblock in 1969 when his wife Sharon Tate, who was two weeks from giving birth to his child, was savagely murdered by The Manson Family. That incident sent Polanski reeling for the next several years.

His life took another turn for the worst when he became an infamous figure in 1977. That's when he, by his own admission, had "unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor" after plying her with champagne and drugs. His previously revered body of work suddenly begun being viewed with an asterisk, especially since the disgraced Polanski fled the United States to avoid a possible prison sentence. He ended up in France and since 1978, has been a fugitive from justice in the U.S.

He was caught two days ago, after running for 31 years.

The irony in Polanski's highly delayed arrest is that he was en route to Switzerland to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award when he was apprehended at a Zurich airport. For the time being, the disgraced filmmaker is in custody pending a request by U.S. officials to be extradited back to this country. He has avoided such an occurrence since the 1970's by staying away from countries with extradition treaties to America, but this time it seemed as though fate intervened.

Polanski plans to fight the courts on this historic matter.

I totally understand anyone that feels that Polanski should pay for his misdeeds, no matter how far in the past they are. I'd probably feel the same way if it weren't for the victim in the case, Samantha Geimer. Now a 45-year old mother of three children, Geimer has recently asked that Polanski be forgiven. She's also stated that everytime anything comes up about the case in the media, it disrupts her current life with her family. She maintains that the incident, though "scary" was more than 30 years ago and should be left in the past because she feels that he's paid for what he did.

If the victim herself wants to move forward and just let Polanski be, then who are we to say that justice still needs to be served? The man committed a heinous and despicable act for sure, but arresting a man in his seventies for something that he did over three decades ago one time won't actually solve anything. Hard as it may be for many to accept, Polanski has actually lived all these years in a different kind of self-imposed prison. Even though he continued to make films, he was limited to shooting them overseas and was always unable to come to the U.S. to receive accolades for some of his work, such as 2002's The Pianist, which won Polanski a Best Director award.

No matter how this turns out, Polanski will always have God to answer to in the end.