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Archives > Volume 7 Issue 60 - October 20, 2009 Polanski loses in court, to stay in Swiss jail...Roman Polanski suffered another setback in his fight against extradition to the United States on Tuesday when a Swiss court ordered the 76-year-old director kept in jail because he poses a high flight risk. ABC News story here 
The Federal Criminal Court rejected offers by Polanski's legal team of bail, house arrest and other measures to ensure that he stays in Switzerland.
The acclaimed filmmaker is considered a convicted felon and a fugitive by authorities in Los Angeles, and the United States is seeking his extradition for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl. He was arrested by the Swiss on September 26 as he arrived in Zurich to receive an award from a film festival. "The court considered the risk that Roman Polanski might flee if released from custody as high," the federal court said. "The bail offered by the appellant does not meet in its form the requirements set out by the law." Legal experts have said Polanski stands a minimal chance of a speedy release, as the law dictates that wanted individuals should be held in detention for the duration of their extradition procedures. There is only limited space for exemptions. For more on this story see vol7_iss54, vol7_iss55, and vol7_iss56. Meanwhile American legal writer and former White House counsel John Dean looks at what kind of sentence Polanski could face after his eventual extradition to the United States. writ.news.findlaw.com/dean Wilmington Catholic Diocese files for bankruptcy... The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, which has pastoral charge of 233,000 Roman Catholics, sought protection Sunday night in federal bankruptcy court in an attempt to manage the potential liability resulting from a flood of clergy sexual-abuse lawsuits, the first of which was scheduled to start Monday. Delmarvanow.com news story here 
The Chapter 11 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware lists assets of as much as $100 million and liabilities of as much as $500 million. The diocese encompasses 58 parishes, 21 missions and 27 schools in Delaware and on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The diocese, founded in 1869 in Wilmington, has 126 diocesan priests.
"This is a painful decision, one that I had hoped and prayed I would never have to make," Bishop W. Francis Malooly said in a statement. "However, after careful consideration and after consultation with my close advisors and counselors, I believe we have no other choice, and that filing for Chapter 11 offers the best opportunity, given finite resources, to provide the fairest possible treatment of all victims of sexual abuse by priests of our Diocese. Our hope is that Chapter 11 proceedings will enable us to fairly compensate all victims through a single process established by the Bankruptcy Court." The bankruptcy filing freezes any lawsuits under an automatic stay, bankruptcy lawyers said. The standstill came just hours before the start of Delaware's first trial involving alleged sex abuse by a Catholic priest was scheduled to begin in Kent County Superior Court. The personal-injury lawsuit filed by Wilmington lawyer Thomas S. Neuberger involves a now-defrocked priest, Francis G. DeLuca, who served in the Wilmington diocese for 35 years. Michael Vai, 57, alleges DeLuca sexually abused him when Vai was an altar boy at St. Elizabeth Church in Wilmington. Neuberger has 20 other lawsuits against the diocese related to DeLuca alone. With the filing, the diocese becomes the first on the East Coast to file for bankruptcy. It joins six other American dioceses, including the Diocese of San Diego, that have sought protection in bankruptcy under the weight of alleged clergy sex-abuse claims, bankruptcy experts said. In 2004, the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon became the first to file for bankruptcy. Others that have filed are the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona; Diocese of Spokane, Washington; Diocese of Davenport, Iowa; and the Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska. The Wilmington diocese potentially is facing millions in liability from lawsuits following the 2007 passage of the Delaware Child Victim's Act. The child victim's law permitted survivors of child sexual abuse, who had been barred from filing suit against their abusers under the statute of limitations, to bring civil cases in Delaware Superior Court during a two-year window that expired in July. More than 175 cases involving at least 190 plaintiffs have been filed in Superior Court, according court documents. Neuberger said the majority of the cases filed in Superior Court are against the diocese. The Diocese of Wilmington and certain parish churches are defendants in 131 cases, according to Superior Court documents and the diocese. In a press release, Barbara Dorris of the Survivors Network of those Abuse by Priests said "It is highly suspicious that the bankruptcy is filed on the eve of the trial that would have allowed the truth to be exposed and diocesan officials to be cross examined under oath where they would have had difficulty explaining why the children were not protected instead of the predators." SNAP Network press statement here To learn more about clergy abuse see eGuide/clergy abuse. In other news... 
Several young Minnesota children were the victims of an attempted abduction Friday, according to a letter sent to parents by the Hudson School District. KSTP story here The Willow River Elementary School kids were waiting for the morning bus to take them to school when a grey-haired woman driving a short, plain yellow bus stopped. According to the district, she told the children their regular bus had broken down and that she would be picking them up instead. The students did not get on the bus and were not harmed. The district has asked for increased police surveillance at school bus stops. The letter urged parents to talk to their kids about how to stay safe and what to do if they are approached by a stranger.
An assistant swim coach at Oxford High School faces felony charges for allegedly sending sexually explicit text messages to two 15-year-old girls on the Michigan school's dive team. WXYZ story here Brandon Figurski, 20, from Lake Orion, Michigan served as the team's assistant coach for only a couple weeks during August. Figurski started working with the swimmers on August 13 and continued in that capacity for about six sessions, according to Nancy Kammer, deputy superintendent for Oxford Community Schools. When the Oakland County Sheriff's Office found out about the text message exchange, a computer crime detective assumed the identity of both girls and took over their cell phones. Officers say Figurski requested sexually explicit pictures be sent to him and suggested the girls engage in sex acts with him. When Figurski went to meet one of the girls, he was instead confronted by sheriff's deputies and arrested. The arrest took place on August 31. Figurski faces three felony charges, including child sexually abusive activity, using a computer to commit a crime and communicating with another to commit a crime.
1 in7 girls are pregnant in a Chicago high school. It has about 800 girls, and 115 of them are pregnant. CBS2 Chicago news story here It's not a school for young mothers, it's a neighborhood school. And all of the pregnancies have happened, despite prevention talk. If you want to know why, the people closest to the situation say there's no simple explanation. Chicago Public Schools says it does not track the overall number of teen moms in the district. But Robeson Principal Gerald Morrow knows the count at his school in Englewood: 115 young ladies who are either expecting or already have had children. To put it in perspective, their school pictures would fill roughly six pages of their high school year book.
An Ohio pediatrician could spend the rest of his life behind bars after a jury found him guilty of sex crimes involving former patients. WCPO story here A jury has found Dr. Mark Blankenburg guilty of 16 sex charges involving patients. The charges include gross sexual imposition and corruption of a minor. "Every time I heard 'guilty,' I felt a jolt go through me," said one of the victims who testified in the trial. The victim doesn't want his name published. He says, "This is a big part of my life I can put behind me and start over." He says he reported what was going on because now he's a father. "What was I going to tell my kid I do for money? I take money from a child molester," he said. Blankenburg hugged his twin brother, Scott, who's facing similar sex charges, as well as his sister and father before he was handcuffed and taken to jail. Scott Blankenburg was out on bond. Judge Keith Speath will rule in the coming days or weeks on drug and bribery charges. The victims testified that Blankenburg gave them drugs and money to keep quiet.
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