CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES
Fugitive filmmaker Roman Polanski will not attend a Jan. 21 court proceeding, according to a filing by one of his lawyers Tuesday, and “has no plans ever to return to the United States.”
Polanski’s lawyers argued in the filing that his absence should not prevent a judge from dismissing a three-decade old charge of unlawful intercourse with a minor.
His attorneys have asked the supervising judge of the criminal division, Peter Espinoza, to toss out the charge because of what they allege was “rampant prosecutorial and judicial misconduct” three decades ago.
The district attorney’s office, which opposes the dismissal, contends Polanski must come back to Los Angeles -- where he would face immediate arrest -- to make the request. Among the reasons cited by the prosecution is a legal requirement that defendants be present for criminal proceedings.
In their papers, Polanski’s lawyers wrote that the director signed a waiver in 1977 allowing him to miss certain hearings and that the judge at the time accepted the waiver as valid.
A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office brushed off the waiver’s significance, saying it was trumped by the arrest warrant issued after Polanski fled the country.
-- Harriet Ryan
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