HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Roman Polanski's trial testimony could be a boost to U.S. authorities as they hope to extradite the famous director, who was was jailed over the weekend for a statutory rape conviction dating back more than 30 years ago.
In 1978, Polanski was charged with drugging and then having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl at the home of Jack Nicholson. The charges were later dropped as part of a plea bargain, with the director admitting to a lesser charge of unlawful sex with a minor. The victim in the case, Samantha Geimer, now a mother of four, has publicly said that she doesn't believe Polanski deserves any more jail time, but her testimony in the case could be a boost to officials seeking public support.
Two weeks after the incident in 1977, Geimer testified before a Los Angeles grand jury. She often remarked that she was afraid of Polanski on the night of the attack, in which he provided her with champagne and Quaaludes and billed the evening as a modeling shoot.
Geimer told prosecutors that she was asked to take off her underwear and get into a Jacuzzi so Polanski could photograph her nude. The director later got naked himself and joined her in the hot tub.
The events then moved to a bedroom inside Nicholson's home, with Geimer telling Polanski that she needed to go home.
"He reached over and he kissed me," she said. "And I was telling him, 'No,' you know, 'Keep away.' But I was kind of afraid of him because there was no one else there."
Geimer told prosecutors that Polanski then performed a sex act on her.
"I was ready to cry," she said. "I was kind of — I was going, 'No. Come on. Stop it.' But I was afraid."
Click here to read the entire Roman Polanski trial testimony.
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