US prosecutors want Polanski in court for sentencing
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U.S. prosecutors said Friday Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski must be sentenced in court, not "in absentia."
Polanski, who remains under house arrest in Switzerland, has asked to be sentenced in his absence by a Los Angeles district court for his 1977 guilty plea to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. He fled the United States in 1978.
"The defendant is a fugitive," Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said, urging Polanski to surrender and go through court proceedings
Walgren said in papers filed to the court that the operation of a fair and equitable judicial system mandated that criminals, even those with celebrity status and wealthy means, abide by lawful court orders.
"If this basic tenet of our great system is allowed to perish for this one defendant, it will set a horrible precedent that will surely be cited by countless future fugitives in similar, though likely less protracted, situations," he said.
Polanski, who won an Oscar award for his renowned "The Pianist," was arrested on Sept. 26 last year as he arrived in Switzerland to receive another award at a film festival. He has been under house arrest at his ski chalet in that country since being released from Swiss custody on Dec. 4.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza has set a Jan. 22 hearing to determine whether he will grant the film director's request -- made via a one-page notarized document signed on Dec. 26 last year in Gstaad, Switzerland -- that "judgment be pronounced against me in my absence."
Polanski fled to France before he could be sentenced, after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Laurence Rittenband -- who has since died -- indicated he was going to reject a plea agreement under which the director would be able to stay out of prison.
Last month, a state appeals court panel found that Espinoza did not abuse his discretion when he refused to dismiss the case against Polanski based on allegations of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct.
The three-justice appellate panel noted that Polanski had not alleged any misconduct involving his guilty plea to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl or "at any point in the proceedings prior to the consideration of sentencing, and therefore has not established any reason for this court to nullify the proceeding altogether."
The appeals court panel also noted in its Dec. 21 ruling that Polanski had other options, including being sentenced "in absentia" without being in court, or cooperating with the extradition process -- which began after his arrest in Switzerland last September -- and returning to California.
The appellate justices also urged "the parties to take steps to investigate and to respond to the claims" of alleged misconduct, noting that "Polanski's allegations urgently require full exploration and then, if indicated, curative action for the abuses alleged here."
Polanski's attorneys are expected to file their response next week.
