PARIS (AP) — A French court acquitted filmmaker Roman Polanski on Tuesday of defaming a British actor whom he accused of lying after she alleged that he sexually assaulted her as a teenager.
The case stems from a 2019 interview with Paris Match magazine where Polanski accused Charlotte Lewis of “a heinous lie” for alleging that he raped her in the 1980s when she was 16.
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British actor Charlotte Lewis reacts after the verdict against filmmaker Roman Polanski Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Paris. Roman Polanski was acquitted of defaming the actor whom he described as a liar after she accused the director of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Roman Polanski's lawyer Delphine Millet answers reporters after the verdict Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Paris. Roman Polanski was acquitted of defaming actor Charlotte Lewis whom he described as a liar after she accused the director of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
British actor Charlotte Lewis arrives with her lawyer Benjamin Chouai before the verdict against filmmaker Roman Polanski Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Paris. Roman Polanski was acquitted of defaming the actor whom he described as a liar after she accused the director of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
British actor Charlotte Lewis arrives with her lawyer Benjamin Chouai before the verdict against filmmaker Roman Polanski Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Paris. Roman Polanski was acquitted of defaming the actor whom he described as a liar after she accused the director of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
British actor Charlotte Lewis leaves the courtroom after the verdict against filmmaker Roman Polanski Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Paris. Roman Polanski was acquitted of defaming the actor whom he described as a liar after she accused the director of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
British actor Charlotte Lewis leaves the courtroom after the verdict against filmmaker Roman Polanski Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Paris. Roman Polanski was acquitted of defaming the actor whom he described as a liar after she accused the director of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
British actor Charlotte Lewis reacts after the verdict against filmmaker Roman Polanski Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Paris. Roman Polanski was acquitted of defaming the actor whom he described as a liar after she accused the director of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
The Paris court’s ruling did not address the truth of the rape allegation but focused solely on whether the 90-year-old Polanski’s comments in the interview constituted defamation against Lewis. Polanski denied the charges.
Lewis said she felt let down by the verdict and would appeal.
“I feel sad,” she said. “For us, it's not over.”
Polanski was not in court. His lawyer Delphine Meillet phoned him from the courtroom to announce the news, saying: “We won, Roman.”
Speaking afterward to reporters, she said the court recognized his right to challenge people who make accusations against him. She noted that the verdict came on the opening day of the Cannes Film Festival, calling it “a symbolic day.”
“The question that the court answered was whether you could defend yourself publicly when you are accused publicly. The answer is yes. You can challenge accusations, you can cast doubt on accusations,” the lawyer said. “It's a victory for the rights of the defense.”
Polanski, known for classics such as “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Chinatown” and “The Pianist," had also suggested to Paris Match that Lewis was a poor liar and may have falsely accused him out of “frustration.”
Lewis first made public her accusations against Polanski in 2010, alleging that “he sexually abused me in the worst possible way when I was just 16 years old,” referring to a 1983 incident in Paris during a casting session for his film “Pirates.”
When her defamation suit was heard in Paris in March, Lewis testified that she didn't file suit for rape against Polanski in 2010 because too much time had passed for her allegations to be heard, the court noted Tuesday in a summary of its ruling.
The filmmaker has faced several other accusations of sexual assault that allegedly occurred over several decades, including a notable case from 1977 where he was charged with the rape of a 13-year-old in the United States. He pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor but fled to Europe in 1978 before sentencing could take place.
Associated Press journalists Thomas Adamson and Nicolas Garriga contributed.
British actor Charlotte Lewis reacts after the verdict against filmmaker Roman Polanski Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Paris. Roman Polanski was acquitted of defaming the actor whom he described as a liar after she accused the director of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Roman Polanski's lawyer Delphine Millet answers reporters after the verdict Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Paris. Roman Polanski was acquitted of defaming actor Charlotte Lewis whom he described as a liar after she accused the director of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
British actor Charlotte Lewis arrives with her lawyer Benjamin Chouai before the verdict against filmmaker Roman Polanski Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Paris. Roman Polanski was acquitted of defaming the actor whom he described as a liar after she accused the director of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
British actor Charlotte Lewis arrives with her lawyer Benjamin Chouai before the verdict against filmmaker Roman Polanski Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Paris. Roman Polanski was acquitted of defaming the actor whom he described as a liar after she accused the director of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
British actor Charlotte Lewis leaves the courtroom after the verdict against filmmaker Roman Polanski Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Paris. Roman Polanski was acquitted of defaming the actor whom he described as a liar after she accused the director of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
British actor Charlotte Lewis leaves the courtroom after the verdict against filmmaker Roman Polanski Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Paris. Roman Polanski was acquitted of defaming the actor whom he described as a liar after she accused the director of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
British actor Charlotte Lewis reacts after the verdict against filmmaker Roman Polanski Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Paris. Roman Polanski was acquitted of defaming the actor whom he described as a liar after she accused the director of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
ATLANTA (AP) — Six days of funeral observances for former President Jimmy Carter begin Saturday in Georgia, where he died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100.
The first events reflect Carter’s climb up the political ladder, from the tiny town of Plains, Georgia, to decades on the global stage as a humanitarian and advocate for democracy.
Here is what to know about the initial ceremonies and what happens next:
The proceedings, streamed on apnews.com and the Associated Press YouTube channel, began at 10:15 a.m. EST Saturday with the Carter family arriving at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus.
Former Secret Service agents who protected Carter served as pallbearers, walking alongside the hearse as it exited the campus on its way to Plains.
James Earl Carter Jr. lived more than 80 of his 100 years in and around the town, which still has fewer than 700 people, not much more than when he was born on Oct. 1, 1924. Some other modern presidents — Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton — also grew up in rural settings, but Carter stands out for returning and remaining in his birthplace for his long post-presidency.
The motorcade will move through downtown Plains, which spans just a few blocks, passing near the girlhood home of first lady Rosalynn Smith Carter, who died in November 2023 at the age of 96, and near where the couple operated the family peanut warehouses. The route also includes the old train depot that served as Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign headquarters and the gas station once run by Carter's younger brother Billy.
The motorcade will then pass by the Methodist church where the Carters married in 1946, and the home where they lived and died. The former president will be buried there alongside Rosalynn.
The Carters built the one-story house, now surrounded by Secret Service fencing, before his first state Senate campaign in 1962 and lived out their lives there with the exception of four years in the Governor's Mansion and four more in the White House.
The military-run schedule calls for a 10:50 a.m. stop in front of Carter's family farm and boyhood home in Archery, outside Plains, after passing the cemetery where the former president's parents, James Earl Carter Sr. and Lillian Carter, are buried.
The farm now is part of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park. The National Park Service will ring the old farm bell 39 times to honor the 39th president.
Carter was the first president born in a hospital. But the home had no electricity or running water when he was born, and he worked his father's land during the Great Depression. Still, the Carters had relative privilege and status. Earl employed Black tenant farming families. The elder Carter also owned a store in Plains and was a local civic and political leader. Lillian was a nurse and she delivered Rosalynn. The property still includes a tennis court Earl had built for the family.
It was Earl's death in 1953 that set Jimmy on course toward the Oval Office. The younger Carters had left Plains after he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. But Jimmy abandoned a promising career as a submarine officer and early participant in the Pentagon's nuclear program to take over the family's peanut business after his father's death. Within a decade, he was elected to the Georgia state Senate.
From Archery, the motorcade will head north to Atlanta and will stop at 3 p.m. outside the Georgia Capitol, where he served as a state senator from 1963 to 1967 and governor from 1971 to 1975. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens will lead a moment of silence. While former governors are honored with state-run funerals, presidents — even if they served as governors — are memorialized with national rites run by the federal government.
The motorcade then is scheduled to arrive at the Carter Presidential Center at 3:45 p.m., with a private service at 4 p.m. The campus includes Carter’s presidential library and The Carter Center, established by the former president and first lady in 1982.
From 7 p.m. Saturday through 6 a.m. Monday, Carter will lie in repose for the public to pay respects around the clock.
The ceremony is expected to include some of The Carter Center's global staff of 3,000, whose work concentrating on international diplomacy and mediation, election monitoring and fighting disease in the developing world continues to set a standard for what former presidents can accomplish.
Jimmy Carter, who delivered its annual reports until 2019, won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize in part for this post-presidential work. His grandson Jason Carter now chairs the board.
Carter's remains will travel next to Washington, where he will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda until his funeral at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Washington National Cathedral. All the living presidents have been invited, and Joe Biden, a Carter ally, will deliver a eulogy.
The Carter family then will return to bury its patriarch in Plains after a private hometown funeral at 3:45 p.m. at Maranatha Baptist Church, where Carter, a devout evangelical, taught Sunday School for decades.
Carter will be buried afterward in a private graveside service, in a plot visible from the front porch of his home.
People line the road before the hearse with the casket of former President Jimmy Carter departs Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Ga., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
Former and current U.S. Secret Service agents assigned to the Carter detail, walk with the hearse carrying the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter, at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Ga., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
Former and current U.S. Secret Service agents assigned to the Carter detail, move the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter, at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Ga., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
Former and current U.S. Secret Service agents assigned to the Carter detail, walk with the hearse carrying flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter, at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Ga., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
A memorial wreath of cotton bolls is seen at the entrance to the Jimmy Carter Boyhood Farm, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Archery, Ga. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
A woman looks at items left in tribute to former President Jimmy Carter at the entrance to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. Carter died Sunday at he age of 100. (AP Photo/John Bazemore )
A jar of peanuts is among the items left in tribute to former President Jimmy Carter at the entrance to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. Carter died Sunday at he age of 100. (AP Photo/John Bazemore )
A woman leaves flowers in tribute to former President Jimmy Carter at the entrance to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. Carter died Sunday at he age of 100. (AP Photo/John Bazemore )
A Habitat for Humanity hard hat is among the items left in tribute to former President Jimmy Carter at the entrance to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. Carter died Sunday at he age of 100. (AP Photo/John Bazemore )
Tom Chaffin, of Atlanta, leaves flowers at the entrance to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. Carter died Sunday at he age of 100. (AP Photo/John Bazemore )
