Quote:
Originally Posted by Seaver
No. By over-ruling the plea bargen, the plea is automatically revolked. It never went to court, so it can not be double jeopardy. The only difference between now and then, is he's been living in the lap of luxury for the last 30 years.
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The problem is that the judge never overruled the plea bargain per se. He accepted the plea, and that right then and there attached jeopardy to the more serious charges. In trying to be tricky, the judge actually helped Polanski. That is the problem, that the judge wanted to both accept the plea and ignore the DA's sentence recommendation.
Polanski will try to get the sex with a minor offense dismissed for prosecutorial misconduct, and if he is rejected he goes back to the sentencing part of the trial only. The appeals court might meet halfway and have him retried for that charge, but for the others double jeopardy has attached.
And in this case, it will be interesting to see how the victim will act. Prosecution can move on the case even if the victim wishes to see the charges dropped, but the issue then becomes whether she will be willing to testify.
That is, of course, not counting what he might get for fleeing justice.