By Jeffrey Page

As Roman Polanski sits in a Swiss jail, fighting extradition to the United States to face a judge on his admitted rape of a young teenager, Whoopi Goldberg weighs in with one of the more bizarre quotes of the new century.

“It wasn’t rape-rape,” she said, as if to suggest that somehow it wasn’t really rape despite Polanski’s having pleaded guilty to it. Goldberg can know nothing about the crimes of Roman Polanski.

In this case, it was the 43-year old Polanski having his way with a 13-year old girl in 1977. Not rape? It defined rape. When it occurred, it carried an odd sentencing range: six months to 50 years. The story is that Polanski, in a deal, pleaded guilty to rape, had other serious charges dropped, and expected a minimum sentence. So Whoopi Goldberg notwithstanding, it was rape to Polanski, rape to the girl, rape to the judge, rape to the district attorney, and rape to Polanski’s defense team.

But when Polanski was seized with fear that the judge might slap him with major prison time, he fled to Europe, where he has resided ever since.

Polanski’s friends yammer about the supposed injustice of jailing him for something that happened so many years ago, and ask why the United States never went after him before. It doesn’t really matter because no matter how they slice it, the “something” was a rape committed against a kid.

And Goldberg neglected to discuss other facts of the case against Polanski, who was 31 years old when his victim was born. 

–The girl, Samantha Geimer, told the grand jury 32 years ago that Polanski drove her to the home of Jack Nicholson – Nicholson was not home – to shoot fashion photos of her. To get things started, Polanski gave her a Quaalude tablet and champagne and then suggested she take off her clothes and take a dip in the whirlpool bath. Then he took off his clothes and joined her in the water. They were alone, this middle-aged man and girl.

–CBS reported the following from the grand jury report: “The victim testified that after she left the whirlpool bath, Polanski told her to go to a nearby bedroom and lie down. Answer: I was going, ‘No, I think I better go home’ because I was afraid. So I just went and I sat down on the couch. Question: What were you afraid of? Answer: Him.”

–“He reached over and kissed me,” she said. “And I was telling him, ‘No,’ you know, ‘Keep away.’”

–He asked the girl if she were on any form of birth control. When she said she was not, he asked if she preferred anal intercourse. She said she did not. Then he had oral sex with her. When he was through, he had vaginal intercourse with her.

–“I was ready to cry,” she said. “I was kind of – I was going, ‘No. Come on. Stop it.’ But I was afraid.”

–Later, Polanski drove her home and advised her not to tell her mother or boyfriend about what he had done. She testified, “He said, ‘You know, when I first met you I promised myself I wouldn’t do anything like this with you.’”

–Polanski was indicted for furnishing a controlled substance to a minor, performing a lewd or lascivious act on a child under 14, rape by use of drugs, oral copulation, sodomy, and unlawful sexual intercourse with a female under the age of 18. All but the last were dropped in the plea deal.

Yes, Polanski and his family beat it out of Europe just before the Nazis inflicted themselves on his native Poland. Yes, he’s a renowned film maker. Yes, he suffered an unspeakable horror when Charles Manson’s gang stabbed his pregnant wife Sharon Tate to death in 1969.

And yes, Polanski deserves to do serious prison time for inflicting himself on a young girl. If what he did was not rape, there is no such crime. But you and I know there is.

Jeffrey can be reached at jeffrey@zestoforange.com

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