Yes, he is due all the due process any other citizen would get. He will likely get more because he can afford it. But before you want to make excuses to me about why he should not be dragged back to the US to answer for his crimes (and get all the due process his money can buy him) I will remind you that he raped a child.

Most defenders of Polanski who have gone on the record have not claimed that he was unfairly treated by the justice system, or that he didn’t do the deed which he plead guilty to, or that what he didn’t wasn’t really all that bad.

Instead, Polanski’s defender seem to focus on the fact that he’s a brilliant filmmaker, and if pressed, that he has suffered enough (the murder of his wife)–it would be a shame and a waste to see such talent rot in jail.

Which strikes me as little different than a phenomenon that is readily observed within the US–wherein upper-class white kids that screw up bigtime often get slaps on the wrist, whereas poor minority kids who commit a similar offense (and have a similar history with law enforcement) can frequently expect to get the book thrown at them. In the former case, there’s a belief that the kid in question has a Lot Of Potential, it’s better not to ruin his life with a lengthy prison sentence–wherein the latter case, the kid is frequently viewed as disposable (and likely to end up in jail for something else anyway).

While I have no special enmity for Polanski (compared to others who commit similar offenses), the whole principle of the blindness of justice demands that he be held to some account by the law. Is there any doubt that if he weren’t a rich film director, he would have served a lengthy prison term, and might well still be there today?