LA County DA George Gascón calls for transcripts in Roman Polanski case to be unsealed

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón says it is in the "interest of justice" to unseal the transcripts in the case of Roman Polanski, who fled the country after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse involving a 13-year-old girl.

Gascón announced his office would no longer object to the release of the conditional examination transcripts of former Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson. The victim in the case had requested the transcripts be unsealed in 2017 to allow for an investigation into alleged conditional misconduct.

"This case has been described by the courts as 'one of the longest-running sagas in California criminal justice history,'" Gascón  said in a statement. "For years, this office has fought the release of information that the victim and the public have a right to know."

Defense attorney Harland Braun had said in 2017 that the transcripts would confirm a plea deal negotiated in 1978, calling for Polanski to be sentenced to time already served behind bars. 

"The lack of resolution of this case has haunted my family for decades, I now await the day when media attention will force me to explain to my granddaughter who is only 6 now, what happened to her Nana all those years ago," Samantha Geimer wrote in a letter to the DA's office. "The contempt and callousness of previous administrations towards myself and my family remains fresh in my memory. I had given up hope that anyone would seek the truth in this matter, whatever the testimony contains."

In August 1977, Polanski pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, but fled the country before he could be sentenced. He reportedly lives in France and remains a fugitive. He has since been accused of raping two more women when they were young girls, and in 2018, in the wake of the #MeToo movement, he was expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

"After careful consideration of the victim's wishes, the unique and extraordinary circumstances that led to his conditional exam and my commitment to transparency and accountability for all in the justice system, my office has determined it to be in the interest of justice to agree to the unsealing of these transcripts," Gascón said.