William Rempel: Last News

A California appeals court on Wednesday ordered the unsealing of a conditional deposition transcript to be opened in the criminal case against director Roman Polanski, who pled guilty to having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl decades ago.  The deposition transcript is Roger Gunson's, the former prosecutor in the case who retired in 2002, according to The Hollywood Reporter.The Los Angeles District Attorney was formerly opposed to unsealing the documents but lifted its opposition Tuesday.    "The conditional deposition of Gunson was a post-plea evidentiary hearing designed to uncover these alleged abuses, and we agree with the People that there is no factual or legal basis for the conditional deposition transcript to remain sealed," the order read.  The request to unseal was submitted by journalists Sam Wasson and William Rempel, arguing alongside their lawyer, John Washington, that state law and public interest required Gunson's testimony be unsealed.

If you thought last month’s release of previously sealed testimony by former prosecutor Roger Gunson in the Roman Polanski sex case put an end to legal jousting over the secret sessions, you thought wrong.

Sealed testimony by a former deputy district attorney in the Roman Polanski sex case will remain closed, the Los Angeles County Superior Court decided on Tuesday.

In one particular, progressive Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón doesn’t differ from his predecessors: He is against opening court and prosecutorial behavior in the Roman Polanski sex case to public inspection—at least not until the fugitive Polanski returns from abroad to face sentencing.

Hope springs eternal among those bent on getting to the bottom of the Roman Polanski sex case. On Monday morning, two writer/journalists, Sam Wasson and William Rempel, are now hoping that Judge Sergio Tapia II of the Los Angeles County Superior Court will look kindly on their request to unseal some critical evidence in the convoluted case–that is, the transcripts of 2010 conditional testimony by one of the original prosecutors, Roger Gunson.