Roman Polanski loses motion to have 1977 sex case dismissed

Roman Polanski has lost his latest attempt to have nearly 40-year-old sex charges against him dropped. A Los Angeles judge denied the director’s most recent effort.

According to the AP, Polanski and his legal team recently filed a motion alleging judicial misconduct, focusing specifically on an October attempt to arrest him in Warsaw, Poland. While there, Polanski was questioned by Polish authorities, but they did not arrest him. Polanski and his attorneys maintain that this latest extradition attempt did not include the information that he served 42 days of prison time after he pled guilty to having unlawful sex with a minor in 1977. Allegedly omitting this information would have aligned his case with an extradition treaty between the U.S. and Poland and forced Polanski back to America.

California Superior Court Judge James Brandlin issued an order earlier this week denying Polanski’s latest dismissal claim. Judge Brandlin wrote that Polanski’s claims would not be addressed while he remained a fugitive outside of the U.S. However, Judge Brandlin’s order does explain that there are other options for Polanski in his attempt to have the case dismissed, which would involve him returning to California.

In recent years, Polanski and his team have attempted to hold a hearing for the case, as they believe a judge involved in 2008 and 2009 did not fully consider a dismissal notion as a result of pressure from another judge.

Polanski’s lawyers have contested that Polanski, who pled guilty to one count of statutory rape in 1977, served 42 days in a psychiatric study at a state prison in Chino as ordered by the judge. His lawyers held that the judge went back on this deal after Polanski served his time and suggested the director would return to prison, after which Polanski fled to Europe. Polanski hoped to have the case dismissed in 2008, but that motion was denied.