Fuji, the onus is on the adult to verify age, but it can be a causal verification. You don't have to ask for ID. If she looks 18, acts 18 and says she's 18, you have performed due diligence. It is not an absolute standard.
Back then the age was 16 and I do not know what inquiries California state law required the adult to make before initiating sexual contact.
You're Polanski. You say: she looked 16, she told me she was 16; she was sexually experienced (not a virgin); so I figured I was safe.
I'm not saying the guy is a saint. I'm just saying it may not be as black and white as some are suggesting.
The one indicator, that everybody here seem to miss, is that the then current DA
in Los Angeles thought it would be reasonable to let him go with no extra punishment
than the time he already had served.
I would think that indiocates that the case is not as hard and shut the
people here who wants to put him away for the rest of his life thinks. Or
was the then DA totally corrupt?
And, Cycleguy, I am totally against rape of 13 year old girls.