Roman Polanski Must Return To U.S. To Resolve Rape Case, Court Rules

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By Talya Zax April 4, 2017

Roman Polanski must return to the United States to have a 40-year-old sexual assault case resolved, a Los Angeles County judge ruled on Monday.

Polanski, 83, had sought assurance that if he returned to the United States to seek a final resolution to the case, which concerns his unlawful sexual contact with a minor in 1977, he would not be detained or imprisoned upon arriving in the country.

As The New York Times reported, Judge Scott M. Gordon of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County declined to issue that assurance.

“There is no sufficient or compelling basis for reconsideration of these issues,” Gordon ruled, citing previous judges’s refusals to grant similar requests made by Polanski.

Polanski originally served a 42-day prison sentence settled upon in a plea deal. He fled the United States in 1978 after becoming anxious that a judge intended to overturn that deal and sentence him to a longer prison term.

Gordon also announced an April 26 hearing concerning Polanski’s request that the court unseal secret testimony taken in 2010 from former deputy district attorney Roger Gunson, who prosecuted the original case against Polanski. Polanski’s lawyer, Harold Braun, has argued that Gunson’s testimony will help demonstrate that Polanski has already served the extent of his lawful sentence.

Talya Zax is the Forward’s opinion editor. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @TalyaZax.

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