Thirty years after he became a fugitive to avoid a prison sentence for having sex with a teenager, Academy Award-winning director Roman Polanski asked a judge Tuesday to dismiss the case.
In the motion filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, lawyers for Polanski alleged "repeated, unlawful and unethical misconduct" by a prosecutor and the trial judge and requested that the charge which prompted him to flee the country be dropped "in the interests of justice."
Polanski, whose films include "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown," acknowledged having sex with a 13-year-old girl in actor Jack Nicholson's Mulholland Drive home in 1977 and pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful intercourse with a minor. But the next year, on the eve of his sentencing, which he believed would bring prison time, he fled to London.
The request to dismiss the charge, which took court officials and prosecutors by surprise, is based on revelations in a documentary broadcast in June on HBO. The film, "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," portrayed the legal proceeding as hopelessly tainted by backroom dealings between a vindictive judge and a deputy district attorney meddling in his colleagues' case.
Polanski's motion draws heavily on the film, with attorneys including a DVD of the documentary, a copy of the script and excerpts of critical reviews in the 239-page filing.
The film "contains indisputable evidence of an ongoing scheme of continuous and pervasive judicial and prosecutorial misconduct in this case," his lawyers wrote. A hearing is set for Jan. 21 before Judge Peter Espinoza.
The court case 30 years ago attracted massive media attention. Polanski, a French citizen, was a household name both for his movies and for the 1969 murder of his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, by members of the Manson family.
The Polanski case was a blend of Hollywood's glamorous and tawdry sides: Polanski allegedly plied the victim, an aspiring model, with champagne and Quaaludes and told her that he was photographing her for French Vogue.
The crime scene was a bedroom in the movie star's house. Actress Anjelica Huston, who was also in the home, was a potential witness.
In the motion, Polanski's lawyers contend that during the high-profile proceeding, Judge Lawrence Rittenband, now deceased, had improper discussions about the case with David Wells, a deputy district attorney who had been removed from the prosecution.
