Polanski Wants Case Thrown Out
Dec. 3 2008, Published 12:24 p.m. ET
(Photo: Splash News Online) The legal team for famed film director Roman Polanski has asked a California court to dismiss the 30-year-old statutory rape case against him.
Suported by information from a recent HBO documentary, Polanski's lawyers are presenting 'extraordinary new evidence' of 'repeated, unlawful, and unethical misconduct' by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office and the judge in the filmmaker's case.
The documentary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, suggests that deputy DA David Wells had 'unethical and unlawful' talks with the now-deceased Judge Lawrence Rittenband, which illegally influenced his decision. Polanski immediately left the country.
"I'm not surprised that he left under those circumstances," says prosecutor Roger Gunson during an interview in the documentary.
A 239-page motion for dismissal was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday.
The 75-year-old director of Chinatown and The Pianist left the U.S. in 1978 and has not returned after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl. The arrest warrant is still in effect.