Victim requests Polanski case be dismissed
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- The woman Roman Polanski admitted having sex with when she was 13 in 1977 in Los Angeles is asking the criminal case against him be dropped.
"I have dealt with the difficulties of being a victim, have surmounted and surpassed them with one exception," CNN quoted Samantha Geimer as saying in court papers she filed Monday, requesting the case be dismissed. "Every time this case is brought to the attention of the court, great focus is made of me, my family, my mother and others. That attention is not pleasant to experience and is not worth maintaining over some irrelevant legal nicety, the continuation of the case."
She said that by not dropping the case, the district attorney's office is "once again (giving) great publicity to the lurid details of those events, for all to read again. True as they may be, the continued publication of those details cause harm to me."
Polanski pleaded guilty in 1978 to unlawful sexual intercourse with the girl, but fled the United States before he could be sentenced. He has never returned to the country and a warrant is still in effect for his arrest.
Lawyers for the French-born film director, who is now 75, recently asked a Los Angeles court to dismiss the case based on purported new evidence featured in the HBO documentary, "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired." Polanski's lawyers say the film shows "repeated, unlawful and unethical misconduct" by the Los Angeles district attorney's office and the late judge who initially oversaw Polanski's case.
CNN said the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office offered no immediate response to Geimer's request.
Mariska Hargitay suffers collapsed lung
NEW YORK, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. television actress Mariska Hargitay has suffered a partially collapsed lung, TMZ reported.
Hargitay, who is the daughter of late Hollywood actress Jayne Mansfield and one-time Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay, is best known for her work on the television drama "Law & Order: SVU."
TMZ said Mariska Hargitay suffered a partially collapsed lung during the Christmas holiday and then again Monday.
She reportedly has been readmitted to the hospital, but the entertainment news Web site said the cause of the problem and her condition were unknown.
Her publicist confirmed to TMZ only that the actress has suffered a partially collapsed lung but she isn't expected to miss taping any episodes of her show this season.
Hargitay was nominated for a Golden Globe for best actress in a TV drama, but lost Sunday to Anna Paquin of "True Blood."
Howie Mandel hospitalized
TORONTO, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Howie Mandel's publicist says the Canadian comedian and television personality has been hospitalized in Toronto with an irregular heartbeat.
Mandel's representative told CNN the 53-year-old "Deal or No Deal" host was in Toronto to shoot segments for his new show "Howie Do It" when he was taken to a hospital, so doctors could monitor his condition.
"He did not have a heart attack," Mandel's publicist, Lewis Kay, told CNN, adding that the celebrity is expected to be released later Tuesday.
Mandel's mother, Evy, told the CanWest news service she was terrified when Howie collapsed inside their Toronto hotel room Monday night.
"I saw him and he just fainted. He just went out," the elder Mandel said. "It was just horrendous. I don't know what happened. ... It was terrifying."
She told CanWest that an ambulance was called and paramedics took her son to Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital where he stayed overnight.
"They could have let him go but they said: 'Hey, you know what? Let's keep you here overnight,'" she explained. "I'm just thankful he is fine and, like I say, it has never happened before."
Ledger's mom said Matilda will get Globe
PERTH, Australia, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Heath Ledger's mother says the Golden Globe the late Australian actor won Sunday will be given to his 3-year-old daughter, Matilda.
Ledger, who died in January 2008 at the age of 28, posthumously won the prize for best supporting actor for his portrayal of the evil Joker in the latest Batman adventure, "The Dark Knight." The film's director accepted the award on Ledger's behalf at the Golden Globes ceremony in Los Angeles.
"I should imagine that eventually it will be going to Matilda," Ledger's mother, Sally Bell, told People magazine. "At this stage, she is only so young, but down the track she will have all these things. It will belong to her because she is part of him."
Bell added that the late actor's family is "bursting with pride" over the accolades Heath has been earning for playing a role he "loved."
"It is such a fantastic and wonderful legacy for his daughter. Matilda will have so many people who will be able to speak to her about her father's abilities and (the) respect he had in the industry. That is such a wonderful legacy to leave," Bell told the magazine.
Matilda is Ledger's daughter by his one-time fiancee, actress Michelle Williams. The couple had broken up several months before Ledger's death of an accidental prescription drug overdose.
