‘RAPE’ VICTIM BACKS OSCAR BID

Roman Polanski, 69, had fled to France in 1978 as he was about to be sentenced for having sex with a minor.  He still faces arrest the moment he steps foot in the United States.  Samantha Geimer, the woman at the heart of the 1970s sex scandal that derailed his career said she had no hard feelings toward the director and that his actions 25 years ago in 1977, while creepy and scary at the time, should not color whether he wins an Oscar next month.  I don't really have any hard feelings toward him, or any sympathy, either.  He is a stranger to me, she wrote.  Geimer was 13 at the time of the incident.  She is now happily married and a mother of three living in Hawaii.  Polanski is now a French citizen and is not expected to return to the United States for the awards ceremony because the legal issues surrounding the case are unresolved and he faces arrest the moment he sets foot here.  

(Los Angeles, California)