Oh, so the fact that you don't think he's a bad guy means that he should be able to forcibly rape children and flee the country with impunity. Great point!
No, it's not "virtually unheard of." It happens with regularity where the judge feels that the plea bargain is inappropriate. Furthermore, even if it were absolutely absurd, that doesn't excuse the fact that he fled the country. If you don't like something, you fight it in court. You don't get to flee.
Right you are wrong.
It is virtually unheard of. People are mistaking the judges actions here with a judges actions in refusing to go along with a plea bargain. They are completely different scenarios.
It happens with some degree of regularity that a Da/Defense will discuss a plea bargain and the judge will refuse to accept it. This usually happens where the defendant has a long rap sheet or additional information becomes known that makes the judge uncomfortable. That is NOT what happened here.
What happened here is that the DA/Defense entered into a deal for a 90 day diagnostic. In that type of plea bargain, both side agree to have the defendant go to state prison for 90 days. The diagnostic team then makes a decision whether the defendant is appropriate for probation or whether state prison is the appropriate sanction.
The Judge AGREED to this plea bargain. Polanski went for the diagnostic. The psychiatric diagnostic team came back and said he was appropriate for probation. It was at THIS point that the Judge said he wasn't going to follow the diagnostic.
Can you now see the difference between the two scenarios?
Let me break it down more:
Scenario #1: DA and Defense review the facts and decide 5 year state prison is the sentence. They tell Judge. Judge says no. This defendant has been in and out of prison and the crime here is too severe. I'm not accepting that plea. I won't accept a deal for less than ten years.
Scenario #2: DA and Defense review the facts and decide 5 years state prison is the sentence. They tell Judge. Judge says fine I'll accept that. Defendant pleads. Judge says....you know what....I've changed my mind, I don't think 5 years is an appropriate sentence. I'm sentencing you to 20 years.
This case is more like #2 than #1. #1 does happen with some regularity but is still not very common. #2 is unprecedented.
The Judge had agreed with the plea bargain. It wasn't until the Judge didn't like the outcome that he reneged on the deal.