Judge dismisses Roman Polanski attorneys' attempt to dismiss 1977 sex case

An effort by Roman Polanski’s attorneys to get a judge to dismiss the 1977 sex assault charges that have kept him out of the U.S. since 1978 has been rejected.

Last week, Polanski’s attorneys filed a 133-page motion that cited prosecutorial misconduct as a reason for dismissing the case. They suggested that the prosecutor showed misconduct by not listing court-mandated served jail time in an extradition request to have Polanski arrested in Poland.

In a 1977 off-the-record meeting between the prosecutor and the defense attorney, Judge Laurence J. Rittenband ordered Polanski to have psychiatric testing in prison. At the time, both the prosecutor and the director’s attorney thought this was Polanski’s punishment. So, Polanski spent 42 days under testing.

However, Rittenband decided that Polanski had to spend 90 days, then leave the U.S. Polanksi’s attorneys called this action misconduct on the judge’s part, since Rittenband didn’t have authority to push for his deportation.

Now, The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the motion has been dismissed. The DA didn’t respond to Polanski’s attorney’s claims.

Poland did refuse to arrest Polanski. In 2009, the Swiss government did the same, after he went there to go to a film festival. The Chinatown filmmaker is planning on making a movie about the infamous Dreyfus Affair in Poland.

image courtesy of INFphoto.com