Polanski does not seek return to US

[January 14, 2009]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Roman Polanski has no plans ever to return to the United States, according to a legal filing Tuesday in his campaign to win dismissal of a long-ago criminal case in which he pleaded guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Attorney Chad Hummel, who represents the fugitive director, said in the document that the 75-year-old Polanski's court battle is motivated by a desire to leave a legacy of justice.

"Mr. Polanski has no plans ever to return to the United States. But the course of what happens here will have an enduring legacy for the justice system," said the legal brief. It argued that dismissal of the 1977 rape case would show that judicial and prosecutorial misconduct cannot go unpunished.

Hummel relied heavily on new disclosures that emerged during interviews in the film "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired."

He alleges that the documentary released last year revealed "a pattern of misconduct and improper communications" between the Los Angeles County district attorney's office and the judge in Polanski's case. He contends the now-dead judge planned to change Polanski's agreed-upon sentence, prompting the director to flee the country.

The surprise move by Polanski seeking dismissal of the case on Dec. 2 has produced a blizzard of legal documents including a prosecution reply which exposed for the first time explicit sexual details of the assault on the girl in 1977. It said the district attorney's office would fight dismissal and maintained the law requires that Polanski appear in person if he wants a hearing.

Hummel argued Tuesday that Polanski does not need to be present for the court to rule on his dismissal motion.

The Academy Award-winning director of 2002's "The Pianist" lives in France and could not return for a scheduled Jan. 21 hearing without risking arrest. He is also unable to travel anywhere outside of France because of the outstanding arrest warrant dating to 1977. The motion did not mention whether he plans to travel and work anywhere else in the world if the dismissal is granted.

Prosecutors have cited the fugitive disentitlement doctrine of law in arguing that Polanski must appear or be barred from having his motion heard. Hummel argued that, before he fled the country, Polanski -- whose films include "Tess," "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby" -- signed a waiver of his appearance at all hearings in the case.

Prosecutors say there should be no hearing if Polanksi is not present.

Complicating matters further is an affidavit filed Monday by the rape victim, Samantha Geimer, now 45, who wants the case dismissed in order to stop renewed waves of publicity.

Geimer, now a wife and mother of three who has been public about the case since 1997, said she feels she is being victimized anew by prosecutors who recite the "lurid details" of her assault in their legal papers.

Hummel argued that California's constitutional amendment known as the Victim's Bill of Rights "expressly recognizes the importance of achieving finality in a criminal proceeding that has hurtful consequences for a victim, her family and loved ones."

Geimer has volunteered to come and speak at the hearing.

Gibbons said prosecutors would have no comment on Geimer's affidavit.

[Associated Press; By LINDA DEUTSCH]

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