Roman Polanski is getting impatient and is sick of being cooped up in jail. According to recent reports, the filmmaker — who has spent 32 years of his life avoiding the United States ever since he fled the country in ’77 on a sex-crime charge — might actually agree to face the music in the U.S. courts rather than wait around for months in jail during what’s sure to be a lengthy extradition process (which would be even longer if he chose to fight it).
“We could be heading toward an extradition if the Swiss justice system does not take into account arguments against it,” lawyer Georges Kiejman said on France’s Europe 1 radio.”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.”
Agreed, the L.A. D.A.’s office who have come down on him like attack dogs, might see the move favorably. Afterall, they did suggest the matter could be settled if he turned himself into the U.S. last year, but obviously the kid gloves have been thrown off ever since. Judicial sources have said the extradition process could take years if Polanski challenges it.
Could we see Polanski return to the U.S. on his own volition soon? Or as much volition as a prisoner waiting to be extradited to another country can have? [Reuters]
