Access To Testimony At Issue In Polanski Case

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LOS ANGELES — After Swiss authorities this week refused to extradite Roman Polanski to the United States because they were denied access to secret testimony about his expected sentence on a decades-old sex charge, officials in Washington and Los Angeles were left facing an uncomfortable question: Why was a judge in the case allowed to believe that the Swiss had no interest in the sealed account?

On Monday, officials in Switzerland freed Mr. Polanski, the 76-year-old film director who had been held since September pending possible extradition to face sentencing for having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. He had entered a guilty plea on that charge but fled the United States the following year before he was sentenced.

In a letter notifying Mr. Polanski's European legal team of the decision, the Swiss justice department said it asked the United States Department of Justice on May 5 for access to sealed testimony of Roger Gunson, the prosecutor who originally handled the case and who is now retired.

Mr. Gunson testified this year about a plan under which the Los Angeles County Superior Court ...
... judge who presided over the Polanski case, Laurence J. Rittenband, now deceased, had intended to limit Mr. Polanski's sentence to a 90-day psychiatric evaluation, part of which he had already served. But the testimony was sealed for possible use if Mr. Gunson, who was gravely ill, would not be available.

Mr. Polanski's American legal team asked Judge Peter Espinoza of Los Angeles County Superior Court to unseal the testimony, which might have shown that Mr. Polanski was headed for a sentence too short to qualify for extradition. On May 10, Judge Espinoza denied the request, citing, in part, a written assurance on May 6 by David Walgren, the county prosecutor handling the case, that the Swiss had never sought the information.

They have indicated that they need no further information, Judge Espinoza said during the May 10 hearing. Particularly, they are not interested in what is contained within the four corners of the transcript.

At the hearing, Mr. Walgren said, No such request has ever been received by the people.

In response to an inquiry, however, a Justice Department spokeswoman said on Thursday that the Swiss had asked for access to the testimony and that authorities in Los Angeles were aware of that request. The spokeswoman, Laura Sweeney, wrote in an e-mail message: The D.A.'s office was fully informed of all requests from Swiss authorities. The D.A.'s office provided input and approved all responses from the U.S. government to Swiss authorities on this matter, including the response by the Department of Justice to Swiss authorities regarding this testimony.

Ms. Sweeney did not specify on what day Los Angeles prosecutors were informed of the request. The Justice Department denied Swiss authorities access to the testimony on May 13, according to the Swiss account.

In a statement on Thursday, Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, said only this about the various accounts: There is no conflict between statements made by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office and the U.S. Department of Justice. The request for a transcript of the sealed testimony was made to the Swiss government by Polanski's lawyer in Switzerland.

During this entire lengthy and complicated process, we have enjoyed nothing but professionalism and cooperation from attorneys with the Office of International Affairs of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Though Switzerland declined to extradite Mr. Polanski — and though he has lived freely in France for years — Mr. Polanski continues to face prosecution in the United States.