Polanski Victim Loses Bid To Dismiss Sex Case
By WENNFriday, April 23, 2010
ROMAN POLANSKI’s three-decade-old sex case is rumbling on - a California appeals court has denied his victim’s petition for dismissal.
Samantha Geimer, who was 13 when the filmmaker raped her at a party at actor Jack Nicholson’s Hollywood home, petitioned the court in March (10) and asked officials to dismiss the case.
Her attorney Lawrence Silver argued recent changes to California’s constitution gave his client more rights as a victim to influence the case.
Her lawyer wrote, “She (Geimer) is a person who is harmed by the maintenance of the prosecution and she wants it to end.”
But prosecutors argued Geimer had no authority to end prosecutions.
Polanski remains under house arrest at his chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland.
The filmmaker was indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molesting and sodomy, in 1978. He also pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse.
The Oscar winner fled the U.S. on the eve of his sentencing.
He was detained by Swiss police at a film festival last year (09), as part of an international initiative to bring the director to justice.
Authorities are seeking Polanski’s extradition from Switzerland so he can finally be sentenced in California.
