Roman Polanski was just arrested for a 1978 sex with a minor charge. Has the statute of limitations run out?

Roman Polanski pled guilty in the US to a charge of unlawful sex with a 13 year old girl and then ran away to France. He was basically tried in absentia but has been considered a fugitive from justice in the US and an arrest warrant has been outstanding since 1978. The US has had a worldwide arrest warrant on him since 2005.

He committed the crime in California which does have a limit as per the statute of limitations, and usually only murder and treason don't follow the statute of limitations , but the clock stops if you are a fugitive from justice. Therefore his crime falls within the legal time period. It should be interesting to follow the events as they unfold.

The short answer is no. The reason is because the Statute of Limitations doesn't even apply to the Roman Polanski situation. The Statute of Limitations in a criminal case is the amount of time the prosecution has to bring proceedings against an accused criminal.

Roman Polanski was charged, arraigned, plead guilty, was convicted, and fled punishment. The Statute of Limitations doesn't count at all after a plea bargain or conviction. If a person has been sentenced and flees, there is no time limit for tracking them down.

Also, even when the Statute of Limitations is counting down, if a person flees the state then the clock stops for the whole time they are gone. So even if the Statute of Limitations did apply to Roman Polanski, it wouldn't have run out because the entire time he was outside the US wouldn't count toward the time limit.

When it comes to the statute of limitations there are a lot of exclusions and other legal ways a prosecutor may get around it. I suspect that in just about any case, if a prosecutor wanted to go after the person he or she could probably find way to get the prosecution through the system, but truthfully, I am not a lawyer so don't take that as gospel. However, I do know that most states do not have time limitations on first degree murder, rape, and kidnapping.

If he is being prosecuted under first degree rape, then there is no statute of limitations. I just found this article that says the girl was 13 years old: kmph.com/Global/story.asp?S=11206114 Statutory rape varies by state. I live in NY, under our laws a major having sex with a minor under the age of 14 is defined as first degree rape, so there is no time imit on prosecution.

Of course, this case will be complicated because the deed happened outside the U.S. And there will be extradition involved, but none of that has anything to do with your question. First degree rape still has no statute of limitations.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.