Roman Polanski pleaded guilty to charges of having had sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977 during a photo shoot. The girl had been hired as a model and the action is said to have taken place in famous actor Jack Nicholson’s house while he was not there.

 

Before receiving his sentence, Polanski fled to France and became a French citizen so that he could not rick being extradited to the United States. He has been unable to return to the States since, because he knew he would be arrested the very second he sets foot on American soil. But before he left the country, Polanski spent 42 days in a California prison for psychiatric evaluation. The only place he occasionally visited from France was his native Poland.

 

Deputy District Attorney David Walgren asked for the hearing to be postponed due to the fact that the defendant is still a fugitive from justice. The prosecutor added that Polanski “must personally appear in court" since the defense has not come up with anything to change the mandate of the state law.

 

On the other hand, defense lawyershad filed court papers asking Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza to dismiss the case against Polanski based on alleged judicial and prosecutorial misconduct. Moreover, the director’s legal team stated that they do have new evidence regarding the 1977 case from a 2008 documentary that was part-funded by the BBC precisely about this matter. The film called “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired” was made by Marina Zenovich, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year and hit theaters a month later. The picture does not plead for Polanski’s innocence but does provide a comprehensive perspective on how the criminal case unfolded at the time.

 

Polanski’s 1977 victim, Samantha Geimer now in her 40s has written a four pages court declaration filed last week in which she said she was surprised and disappointed that the charges against the film director were not dropped. She also added that the court's insistence that Mr. Polanski appeared for the dismissal hearing in person was "a cruel joke".

 

Roman Polanski won an Oscar in 2002 for directing his Holocaust drama "The Pianist," an honor accepted on his behalf by actor Harrison Ford. Polanski was also nominated for best director for "Tess" and "Chinatown." He wrote the adapted screenplay for "Rosemary's Baby" as well, another movie for which he was nominated.

 

The 75-year-old director is now married to actress Emmanuelle Seigner with whom he has two children after his first wife, actress Sharon Tate, was murdered in 1969 by Manson followers.