A court hearing is scheduled Tuesday for fugitive filmmaker Roman Polanski, three weeks after a judge spurned a defense attorney’s request for a determination that the Oscar-winning director has already served enough time in custody for his 1977 guilty to plea to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.
The ruling by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon slammed the door on an effort that could have led to Polanski returning to the United States for the first time since 1978. Defense attorney Harland Braun filed court papers March 10, saying Polanski would return for a sentencing hearing if a judge determines that he has “already done his time.”
But Gordon ruled there is “no sufficient or compelling basis for reconsideration of these issues.”
Gordon’s April 3 ruling detailed Polanski’s attempts to get the case dismissed in 2008 and then to resolve allegations of misconduct in a 2014 filing. The judge in each of those cases declined to consider the issues while the filmmaker was a fugitive from justice.
“Polanski is not entitled to avail himself of this court’s power to hear his demands while he openly stands in contempt of a legal order from this very court,” Gordon wrote.
Braun had asked in his court papers that Gordon order the District Attorney’s Office to give some indication of how much time — if any — it wants Polanski to serve if the director were to arrive in Los Angeles from his home in Paris.
