A judge has denied Roman Polanski’s attempt to get his rape case dismissed again
Once again, a judge has denied Roman Polanski’s request to have his 1977 rape charge dismissed. This comes from Deadline, which reports that the longstanding warrant for Polanski’s arrest will remain in place for the foreseeable future, meaning he’s still unable to return to the United States—or any country that will extradite him. Polanski initially pled guilty to drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977, and then served 42 days in prison as part of his plea deal. Before his actual sentencing, though, he discovered that the judge was planning to give him additional jail time, so he fled the country.
We first reported on Polanski’s latest attempt to get the charges dropped earlier this month, when he hired celebrity attorney Alan Dershowitz to try and convince a judge that he’s simply too famous to have to actually pay for the crime of drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl. Deadline, however, says the judge “was having none of it,” suggesting that this is just the latest in a long line of legal professionals who have something against Polanski. Although, to be fair, that something is probably the fact that he admitted to drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl and then ran to Europe before being sentenced.
Anyway, all that this really means is that nothing will change for Polanski. He’s still wanted by the U.S., and he’ll still have to check with countries before he films in them to make sure they won’t send him to prison for that time he drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl. Polanski’s last attempt to get this case dismissed was back in 2009, so maybe—if we’re lucky—it’ll be another five years before we hear about this again.