no. 90 - Roman Polanski

Roman, a cursory glance at the events of your life tell us it has been a cruel and ugly world for you. The horrors that seem to have surrounded your life would devastate any of us. But that you have suffered does not mean you are not and would not always have been a wretch.

The terrible death of your wife at the hands of the Mason lunatics pushed you, somehow, into the company and younger and younger women and girls. That you have admitted you were unfaithful to Sharon Tate does little to shed a flattering light on you, but rather makes her life and death all the more awful and tragic. I am unable to comprehend how her death lead you down the road of pedophilia, unless your understandable nihilism led you to feel you should do whatever you wished, regardless of right or wrong. But this could have led you down any road. The trouble is in what desires you found at your own core.

You may want to pretend that fleeing for 30 years entitles you to some sort of victory over consequences for the things that you have done, but it does not. You may want to cloak yourself in the story of your life - that fleeing makes you feel safe, but your behavior remains deplorable and your unwillingness to face the music looks like nothing but cowardice to me.

More than anything, I think you want to refuse to speak of what you have done, because you are smart and clever enough to know you may then have to face yourself. Your lawyer hopes you will soon "obtain your freedom," but that does not mean it is deserved.