I want to apologize in advance for Roman Polanski updates on consecutive days when relatively nothing has happened with the case. That said, the fissure in his defense team absolutely bears noting, if only for its leader's uncommonly strenuous refusal to capitulate to requests for his client's extradition. Not very French!
The day after attorney Georges Kiejman burned up the radio with a vague intimation that Polanski was "not in perfect health" and may just decide to face a judge once and for all back in Los Angeles, legal overlord Herve Temime squashed rumors of Polanski's return. "There has been no change in strategy at all," he told Reuters, adding that Kiejman's comments were "misunderstood" and that there were no strategy disagreements within the legal team. You know: Fraternité, egalité, denialé... all that stuff.
Interesting aside: One wag theorizes today that the L.A. County District Attorney might simply want to see Polanski detained anywhere for the extra 48 days he might have received from Judge Laurence Rittenband in 1978. Thus on or around Nov. 13 -- the 48th day after his arrest in Zurich -- the Americans would consider his penalty paid and drop their request. I don't believe it for a second, but heaven knows it's preferable to the other alternative.