Polanski believes he was double-crossed after making a plea deal for 48 days in jail, which spurred him to run from the country in 1978. According to Deadline, the woman who he assaulted when she was a 13-year-old girl is now stepping into Polanski’s corner, demanding that “the Gunson transcript made available to Mr. Polanski and be made public.”
Samantha Gailey, who wrote a memoir in 2013 titled The Girl: A Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski, has spoken out frequently about how she felt she was violated twice, once by Polanski and once by the media, who rabidly reported the details of her story and the very long chain of events that comprised Polanski’s case and still successful career. In the mid-1990s, Gailey and Polanski also reached some sort of financially settlement of half a million dollars. The contents of the contested transcript could theoretically settle matters in the wider world:
That 2010 video taped Gunson testimony was made at Polanski’s request while the director was fighting an extradition request by then politically ambitious LA DA Steve Cooley and the Department of Justice. It allegedly contains information of an supposed deal that was made nearly 40-years ago that would have seen the director serving no more than 90-days behind bars after Polanski pleaded guilty on five charges stemming from having sex with then minor Gailey on March 10, 1977
Gailey’s request on Polanski’s behalf was made through her lawyer and presented via Deputy Los Angeles District Attorney Michele Hanisee in a hearing on Tuesday. She has said in the past that she feels Polanski’s exile has been sufficient punishment for his crime.
The decision on opening the transcripts has been pushed to June. Judge Scott Gordon, who is overseeing this complicated hearings, has declined to sentence Polanski in absentia or agree to no jail time should the director return to the US to go through the hearings in person.
