Prosecutors seek to dismiss Polanski court bid
Los Angeles prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss a request by Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski to have decades-old charges of statutory rape against him dismissed.
Los Angeles prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss a request by Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski to have decades-old charges of statutory rape against him dismissed.
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said in a 17-page motion yesterday that Polanski had "voluntarily remained a fugitive from justice" since 1978 and was "not entitled" to have his bid for the charges' dismissal heard.
Polanski's lawyers said last month they had new evidence that the film-maker, 75, was a victim of prosecutorial misconduct in the case, in which he admitted at the time to "unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor."
Born in France of Polish parents and raised in Poland, Polanski was arrested after the parents of a 13-year-old girl complained to police. He fled the United States after a plea agreement.
The charges against him were not dropped and Polanski never again set foot in the United States, not even to receive the 2003 Oscar awarded him for best director in The Pianist.
Polanski, acclaimed for Chinatown (1974) and Rosemary's Baby (1968), is still a US fugitive.