Charles Platiau/Reuters
Filmmaker Roman Polanski fled the U.S. on the eve of his 1978 sentencing for having sex with a teenager after it became clear the judge was prepared to renege on a plea bargain, according to unsealed transcripts of testimony by retired Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson seen by the Associated Press.
The transcript is the first time the murky details of Polanski’s shocking escape have been made clear, and are in line with the filmmaker’s own version of events, in which he says he became a fugitive because he was not getting a fair deal. His wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered by Charles Manson and his followers in their California home in 1969.
Polanski, an Oscar-winning filmmaker who survived the Holocaust, was convicted of having sex with a 13-year-old girl during a photo shoot at Jack Nicholson’s home. Polanski plied the young girl with Champagne and a sedative and then raped her. The girl’s mother later called police to report the crime. The girl never testified in court, and Polanski agreed to plead guilty to having sex with a minor in exchange for the prosecution dropping drug, rape, and sodomy charges, according to the AP report of the transcript.