Polanski's version of the facts differed, and I need to retract my earlier statement that he was rightfully convicted. He was not in fact tried. He was induced to consent to guilt by a plea bargain - which the court then reneged on. You might think indeed that he was judicially raped. We do not in fact know whether there was actual rape. The victim said so. Polanski said not.

The only fair determination would now be a retial, but again I doubt whether it woul d be possible to assemble an unbiassed jury in any jurisdiction (the French responses seem quite unbelievable in one way, but the negative US publicity for decades wil lmake most US juries biassed the other way - and in any event I see no available judicial mechanism to quash the original verdict and have a retrial, ever since the dismissal in the USA of Polanski's motion to quash was denied on the absurd technicality that he was not there in person. THere does seem to be a case for the US judiciary to asnwer about how it has dealt with this case.

Polanski may or may not be guilty.