A U.S. judge has once again shut down efforts by Roman Polanski to get the 40-year-old rape case against him dismissed, with Variety reporting that Judge Scott Gordon refused to end the case today without Polanski submitting himself before an American court. The ruling came despite the requests of Samantha Gemier, who was 13 when Polanski sexually assaulted her in 1977, and who has asked that the case be put to rest “as an act of mercy to myself and my family.”
Polanksi—who can’t be extradited from his home in Paris thanks to his French citizenship, but who faces travel issues due to his extra-legal status—has been trying for years, and especially for the last six months, to get the case against him dismissed. But Gordon was adamant that Polanski wouldn’t be rewarded for a four-decade flight from the U.S. legal system. “The defendant in this matter stands as a fugitive and refuses to comply with court orders,” he said; when Polanski’s attorney pleaded back in June that he had “done everything I can to resolve this case,” Gordon shot back with, “Well, with one exception,” referring to the director’s continued refusal to stand in court.