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This could change some of the legal maneuvering in the Roman Polanski case. Retired prosecutor David Wells says now that he lied when he talks in the 2008 documentary, "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," about advising Judge Laurence Rittenband how to renege on a plea bargain agreement and send Polanski back to jail after he had been released from a 42-day psychiatric evaluation. That episode had given Polanski's lawyers ammunition to claim misconduct. Former prosecutor Marcia Clark analyzes at the Daily Beast:
Recanting these statements is a bombshell. Especially, since it was Wells’ comments in the movie that directly led to the international legal showdown we’re now facing....I believe [Wells.] It’s absolutely forbidden to have one-sided communications with a judge about a pending case. I once knew Wells—rather well, actually. He was a brilliant lawyer, a great raconteur, and he had a wicked sense of humor—but unethical? Hardly.
The legal and ideological twisting and turning going on around the Polanski case is fascinating, I'll say that much.