Would an unemployed ex-drug addict convicted of sex with a child get widespread support?

It’s true that Roman Polanski’s conviction of, at the age of 44, having sex with a 13-year old girl, isn’t quite a straight-forward case, what with the accusations over the judge’s behaviour. But the conviction is one so far upheld by the American legal system, it’s not one based on the defendant (Polanski) being denied access to decent legal representation and several more charges were only dropped at the request of the victim’s family as they wanted to avoid the traumas of a jury trial.

So if it wasn’t an internationally-feted film director but, say, an unemployed ex-drug addict, who had skipped the country and was now facing extradition to serve his jail term, do you think he’d be getting the sort of support Polanski has got?

Would a fan get to be quoted in the media (Debra Winger has) dismissing the case of one of a “minor technicality”?

Would friends get repeated media interviews in which – at least in the ones I’ve heard – the interviewers have pedalled softly around what they could otherwise be calling a shocking case of child sex abuse?

Just wondering.