What if legendary film director Roman Polanski hadn't been a fugitive from American Justice since 1978?

Certainly one of the most bizarre characters in the second half of the twentieth century was, at times, brilliant director Roman Polanski. He's still going strong, of course, at nearly ninety years of age, directing films in Europe, and living the high life. This, despite the fact that he's been "on the run", in a sense, anyway, since 1978. Polanski is, of course, no stranger to being in danger. He's a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust against Jews, in which his mother was murdered, and in which his father survived years in a concentration camp. He lived on the run then, in much worse circumstances than currently, which may be one of reasons he's handled his circumstances so well. He endured life as a young man in Soviet dominated Poland, before developing his film talent to the point that he could emigrate to his native France. Film success led him to Hollywood, and the making of his classic Horror Film, "Rosemary's Baby". Unfortunately for Polanski, the immense success of the film, and its theme -- the pregnant Mia Farrow unknowingly bearing a child to be used by her neighbors in Satanic rituals, itself perhaps being the son of Satan -- gave cult leader Charles Manson some unfortunate ideas. So, Manson sent his "family" to stab Polanski's pregnant wife to death in his home, along with four of his friends. I'm not sure the connection between "Rosemary's Baby", and Manson murder spree, has been fully acknowledged, but, I believe it's there. In 1977, Polanski was charged with raping and drugging a 13 year old girl. An initial plea bargain with the district attorney would have limited his punishment to probation. In 1978, however, the judge decided that Polanski should get fifty years in prison, and the judge actually told a friend of Polanski's that 'Polanski would never get out of prison'. Now, why, exactly, under these circumstances, would Polanski have been left, at large? It does sound a bit, quite a bit, actually, like the American authorities simply wanted Polanski out of the country. So, Polanski left the country. And, Polanski has been out of the country, ever since. The judge was probably correct, in perceiving that Polanski had a profoundly sociopathic side to his personality. Numerous rape allegations have surfaced since this time against Polanski. If Polanski had simply been given probation, there's no reason to think he might not have accumulated numerous other victims in the US. On the other hand, given the extremely lax attitudes to rape in the US in the 1970's, it's unclear that a long prison sentence against Polanski would have been a practical outcome, whatever the judge's wishes. Bear in mind, at this time, the concepts of "marital rape", and "date rape" were almost oxymoronic. After all, sex was what marriage and dates were for, right? As for pedophilia, films like "Pretty Baby", with naked 13 year old Brooke Shields, and "Night Moves", with naked 15 year old Melanie Griffith, almost romanticized it. So, in this atmosphere, it seems unlikely that any judge could really have kept Polanski in prison, for long, on this kind of a charge. But, Polanski is still a fugitive from American justice, largely confined to his native France, to avoid forcible extradition to the US. Obviously, if the Americans really wanted Polanski badly enough, they could get him. They never have, obviously. But, as laws against sexuality tighten up more and more, who knows? The state of Florida has recently passed a law making child rape a capital offense. Wouldn't it be ironic if Roman Polanski, having escaped the gas chambers of the Nazis in wartime Poland, as a child, should succumb to a gas chamber in California, being legally executed for child rape? What a plot for a Polanski Horror film!