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Polanski victim calls for dismissal of case
2009-10-26
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The victim in the Roman Polanski sex case has called for charges against the director to be dismissed and urged the media to leave her alone, court filings showed Monday. Lawyers for Samantha Geimer, who was 13 when Polanski allegedly raped and sodomized her in 1977, made the request in a court motion filed in Los Angeles on Friday. She has frequently urged authorities to drop the case. The motion said Geimer, who now lives in Hawaii with her husband and children, has suffered health problems and job worries after she and her family were "hounded" by media following Polanski's arrest in Switzerland last month. "Between Samantha and her counsel, they have received close to 500 telephone calls from media around the world seeking a comment," the motion filed with California's 2nd District Court of Appeal read. "Larry King has called, Oprah has called, every national network morning show has called. The LA Times has three reporters calling, as do nearly every major newspaper in the United States and abroad. "The response -- 'please leave me alone.' But they won't leave her alone," it read. "Calls at all hours, invade her at home, on her cell phone and at her place of employment," the filing said. "The victim is again the victim." "The pursuit has caused her to have health-related issues. The pursuit has caused her performance at her job to be interfered with," it said, noting Geimer risked "the real possibility" of losing her job as a result. Geimer has repeatedly called for Polanski's case to be dismissed in the years since he fled the United States prior to sentencing for unlawful sexual intercourse. Her lawyers said in the filing that the Oscar-winning director had been forced to flee by a "corrupt" judge. "No matter what his crime, Polanski was entitled to be treated fairly; he was not," the motion said. "The day Polanski fled was a sad day for American justice. Samantha should not be made to pay the price." Geimer had suffered the consequences of a "failed judicial and prosecutorial system," the filing added. "Everyone insists that she owes them a story but her story continues to be sad... This statement makes one more demand, one more request, one more plea: leave her alone."
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