That's what *everyone* in his position says.

As I recall, they had a dispute with their label, couldn't put out new material, and kind of petered out.

No mention of the super awkward spat between the two coach chefs?

Alien Jesus, please read the transcript of his guilty plea hearing. As is standard, he is very clearly informed and says that he understands that the court is not bound by his plea deal. His deal was with the DA, not the court. The judge didn't "breach" anything.

I would classify having the means to learn that the court isn't going to accept your plea deal and then jetting out of the country to avoid even receiving your sentence for 33 years (if ever) as a privilege. The vast majority of criminal defendants don't get that.

Uh, we never got a chance to have findings and a sentence. Dogstyle Afternoon above is correct. When you plead guilty, they ask if you understand that the judge is not bound by the plea agreement. Every defendant who pleads guilty is expected to understand this, but Polanski gets an exception because he was really…