Roman Polanski attends a film premiere in Paris, France, in June 2009.

Lisa Bloom
AC360° Contributor
CNN Legal Analyst

CNN Legal Analyst Lisa Bloom will be on tonight with Jeffrey Toobin to discuss the implications of Polanski's arrest. Check out her Facebook posts on the topic.

Oh, the irony: Roman Polanski fled because he was afraid of being a victim in an American prison of the identical act he inflicted on the 13-year-old girl he drugged. Celebs now flocking to the defense of this rapist and fugitive. Would they support a statutory exception in our child rape laws for all rich and talented people? Or just for this one?

I'm covering Polanski on CBS Evening News and AC360° tonight. Here come all the excuses for the child rape: her mother let her go off with him; she was a few weeks from her 14th birthday; victim's forgiven him; he's talented, rich and famous; he's had a hard life; time has passed. Pul-ease. Why are we so willing to allow a man who drugged and sodomized a child to escape justice?

After 30 years as a fugitive from U.S. justice for luring a 13 year old girl to a hotel room and having sex with her, director Roman Polanski is arrested in Switzerland and can be extradited back here. Does it matter that the girl has publicly forgiven him? Hell no. I don't care how many glitzy awards you've won. Get back over here and face the consequences of your sick crime. Thoughts?

His 13 year old victim's chilling grand jury testimony from 1977: she said "no" and "stop" repeatedly to the vaginal and anal intercourse he insisted o...n, she could barely walk from the booze and Quaalude he gave her, she was scared and crying. He pleaded guilty, then fled and enjoyed 30 years of freedom. Justice is long overdue here. Thoughts?

AC360°

Erica and Anderson have been reminiscing about their first concerts. Anderson couldn’t remember if his was Grandmaster Flash, the Furious Five or Elvis Costello. Erica admitted she saw Peter, Paul, and Mary with her dad.

That got all of us thinking about our own first concerts. What was yours?

We asked you to guess the first concerts of AC360° Contributors.

Here are some answers.

David Gergen: "That was a long time ago - maybe the late 50s - and I can't remember whether it was Perry Como or Bo Diddley - or whether I was wearing white shoes or a bomber jacket."

Tom Foreman: "My first real concert was a whopper: Elvis Presley when I was 16 years old." Read Tom Foreman's post on his experience here.

Jeffrey Toobin: "I went to a Chicago concert at Madison Square Garden. At the end of the concert, everyone lit matches and held them in the air. I thought this was evidence that this was the greatest concert ever. (I didn't realize this was done at every concert, all the time.)"

Gloria Borger: "I remember my fist concert. It was Livingston Taylor, and I went with my (now) husband while we were in college. Too bad I was really disappointed because I thought he was taking me to see James Taylor, his brother. It turned out to be fine, although the only song I can remember now is "Carolina Day," which I would swear is a James Taylor song. But it's not; I looked it up. The next concert event was much better: The Chambers Brothers. I recall the only song they played was "Time Has Come Today." In fact, I think the set isn't over yet!"

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Melissa Huckaby has been accused in the rape and murder of Sandra Cantu, above.

Lisa Bloom: Today is Melissa Huckaby’s arraignment, that’s where she would ordinarily plead guilty or not guilty. Her attorney may seek to delay that plea because they want a second autopsy to be done on the remains of Sandra Cantu and a further investigation.

How important is it to the defense to have the body exhumed?

Lisa Bloom: It’s very important to the defense to have the body exhumed because they want to do their own autopsy. They want to determine if there was a sexual assault on little Sandra and I suspect also toxicology results to see if there were any chemicals, any sedatives in her system.

What do you expect at the trial?

Lisa Bloom: At trial, I would expect it to be all about the science, they may claim that the prosecutions theory is incorrect. Either she was not sexually assaulted or they can’t link the sexual assault and the killing to Melissa Huckaby. The defense is going to be looking for any forensic evidence, any DNA, hair or fibers that might link this killing to some other perpetrator. They’re also going to want to disprove the sexual component of this crime.
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Lisa Bloom
AC360° Contributor
In Session Anchor

Editor’s Note: You can read more Lisa Bloom blogs on “In Session”.

Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, Anna Nicole Smith’s psychiatrist, has just turned herself in to authorities in Los Angeles on charges that she conspired to over-prescribe medications to Smith, knowing that she was an addict. Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, who allegedly prescribed thousands of pills to Anna Nicole in the final years of her life, and Howard K. Stern, Anna Nicole’s boyfriend and lawyer, have also turned themselves in.

Relentless cable coverage of this story followed her death, but this time, in my view, it’s a story worth covering. Prescription drug abuse is a growing and real problem in this country. Many people feel, as apparently Smith did, that they are safe taking drugs as long as they have a doctor’s note and the drugs come from a pharmacy. Wrong. Forty-three percent of drug overdoses in America are from prescription meds. Far too many medicines are prescribed in this country, in my opinion, with little oversight as to their safety.

The complaint alleges that some good pharmacists refused to fill these doctors’ prescriptions to Anna, saying that they were dangerous. The state says the three conspirators then simply went to another pharmacy until they got the drugs they wanted to dispense to Smith.

Six hundred pills are missing from bottles prescribed to Anna Nicole in the five weeks before her death. Yes, she was an adult, responsible for her own actions, but those around her are responsible for their conduct too. Smith had said publicly years before that she was addicted to painkillers. After the sudden death of her son Daniel, in the hospital room where she had just given birth to her new daughter, Anna, understandably, was emotionally devastated. Her doctors had a responsibility not to hand out pills to her like Chiclets at such a delicate time.

Anna was cartoonish in life, but her accidental drug overdose death raises important questions, and I salute California’s attorney general for vigorously pursuing this case.

Police say Kenzie Marie Houk's daughter found her shot to death in her bed on Friday.

Lisa Bloom
AC360° Contributor
In Session Anchor

Another young child has been accused of picking up a gun and fatally shooting a member of his household. In western Pennsylvania, an 11-year-old boy has been charged in the murder of his father’s 26-year-old girlfriend, who was eight months pregnant.

As I read down the article yesterday, here’s the underreported fact that jumped out at me: the boy had a shotgun that was specially manufactured for children. Let me say that again. The boy had been given a youth shotgun, smaller than the adult version, but apparently, just as deadly.

Are we out of our minds? I have long been saddened, as I interview one grieving family after another, that we lack the political will to keep guns out of the hands of mentally ill people, and even children, but now we’re making special kiddie guns?

This fifth grader, charged as an adult, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. Pennsylvania, my beloved home state, has the shame of having the highest number of juveniles in the nation serving life without parole sentences. And now they want to lock up another kid and throw away the key.

What are we doing?

I have a simple solution: lock up guns, not kids. It’s so simple. Lock up guns, not kids. Let’s prevent these crimes, and stop throwing away chidlren’s lives.

Lock up guns, not kids. Can’t we all get behind that?

Editor’s Note: You can read more Lisa Bloom blogs on “In Session”

Watch as In Session's Lisa Bloom interviews Drew Peterson's ex, Chrissy Raines.

Drew Peterson's behavior after his wife disappeared deepened suspicion, but he says she ran off.

Editor’s Note: You can read more Lisa Bloom blogs on “In Session”

Lisa Bloom
AC360° Contributor
In Session Anchor

Last week Chrissy Raines made news by leaving Drew Peterson, the man who is a suspect in the murders of his third and fourth wives. Twenty-four year old Chrissy Raines and her two children, ages 4 and 5, had been living with Peterson for three weeks. Her father, Ernest Raines, was distraught that his daughter and grandchildren were living with a man many people consider to be a dangerous double murderer. I had the privilege of meeting Ernest when we both appeared on the Dr. Phil show last Wednesday. During and after the show, Dr. Phil and I advised Ernie to stop making threats to Drew Peterson – “I’ll drive my Cadillac through his house!” – and to instead keep a friendly, close relationship with his daughter. Drew Peterson would win if he succeeded in isolating Chrissy from her family, which is what abusers always try to do. Don’t let that happen, I told Ernie. Keep the lines of communication open with your daughter. Let her know that while you don’t like your choice, you love her and are there for her, and will help her in any way you can.

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Gov. Blagojevich appeared on CNN's Larry King Live Monday night.

Editor’s Note: You can read more Lisa Bloom blogs on “In Session”

Lisa Bloom
AC360° Contributor
In Session Anchor

Blago continues to misstate the law.

He’s a lawyer. He should know better.

Blago has steadfastly refused to answer specific questions from Larry King, CBS’s Maggie Rodriguez and others, including Jami Floyd today on In Session (is that you on the tapes? Did you say that? If it’s out of context, what was the context?) on the grounds that he is legally barred from commenting on a pending legal matter. No. Incorrect.

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Editor’s Note: You can read more Lisa Bloom blogs on “In Session”

Gov. Rod Blagojevich

Lisa Bloom
AC360° Contributor
In Session Anchor

Over and over again, Governor Rod Blagojevich has said that the Illinois Senate impeachment hearing is unfair because he is not permitted to call witnesses.

This is the same guy who’s compared himself to Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. so his credibility is strained. Nevertheless, I will strongly defend anyone’s due process rights, so I decided to look into this claim.

It is false. Illinois Senate impeachment rule 15 states: “Requests of subpoenas for witnesses, documents or other materials may be made by the Governor or his counsel in the form of a verified written motion to the Chief Justice . . . “ As far as I can tell, that did not happen.

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U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald

Editor’s Note: You can read more Lisa Bloom blogs on “In Session”

Lisa Bloom
AC360° Contributor
In Session Anchor

Disgraced former Durham County, North Carolina District Attorney Mike Nifong was disbarred last year for, among other reasons, prejudicial pretrial public comments he made about three Duke University students he accused of rape.

This jumped to mind as I watched highly respected U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald make repeated comments about the evidence against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich yesterday at Fitzgerald’s press conference.

“The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave,” Fitzgerald said, in a comment that was widely quoted by news organizations today. And that was just the beginning. “Governor Blagojevich has taken us to a truly new low,” he said. The Governor embarked upon “a political corruption crime spree.” His conduct, prosecutor Fitzgerald said, was “appalling,” repeated three times, for emphasis.

If the allegations are proven, clearly so. But we are only at the indictment phase, and Governor Blagojevich is, at this time, a citizen of the United States, presumed innocent. And U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald has an obligation to seek justice, not to seek a conviction by any means necessary.

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