L.A. Prosecutors Set To Oppose A Battery Of Lawyers Over Sealed Testimony In Polanski Case

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.

In late December, Gascón joined Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee in filing a 15-page brief in opposition to a request by journalists Sam Wasson and William Rempel to unseal conditional testimony about the case from former prosecutor Roger Gunson. An underlying question is whether the sealed testimony, given in 2010, would support those who believe that Polanski’s rights were violated by judicial improprieties.

In their opposition, Gascón and Hanisee strongly argued that the testimony constitutes raw discovery material, and, as such, is properly kept from public view. “Granting public access to the deposition testimony from a conditional examination that has not yet been admitted in court could harm the strong public interest in preserving the availability of material testimony in criminal trials,” they concluded.

Now, a battery of attorneys have struck back. In a reply brief filed Tuesday, lawyers John Washington and Paul Hoffman, joined by Gary Bostwick of Bostwick Law and Susan Seager of the University of California Irving Law School, disputed the prosecutors’ assertion that the testimony was not yet a court record subject to disclosure. “The DA’s extensive claim that this is raw discovery is a red herring to the extent that it is coherent,” said the brief.

Instead, it argued, the First Amendment and California law and court rules require that Gunson’s testimony be released.

An earlier hearing on the motion to unseal was delayed to give time for the prosecutors to file their response. The matter is now scheduled for Friday, February 4, before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta, in Dept. 100 of the downtown criminal courthouse.