A Los Angeles judge Tuesday refused to have the case against Oscar-winning fugitive director Roman Polanski dismissed, but stay his decision until holding a hearing in May.
Polanski, 75, fled to his native France in 1978 following his guilty plea to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl at a Los Angeles court, and had never been in the United States since then.
Lawyers for Polanski have been asking the case against the renowned director be dismissed on grounds of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct. But prosecutors countered that the issue should not even be considered until Polanski returns to the United States.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza Tuesday sided with prosecutors and rebuffed Polanski's dismissal request, but he agreed to put a stay on his decision until the hearing on May 7.
Polanski's lawyers were denied last month in their request to have the entire Los Angeles Superior Court bench disqualified from the case, contending the judges could not be impartial in ruling on claims of judicial misconduct.
Meanwhile, the victim in the 1970s case has joined the defense in urging the case be dismissed.
In a four-page declaration filed last month, Samantha Geimer -- a 45-year-old mother of four -- said she is "surprised and disappointed" that prosecutors have refused to go along with the defense's request that the court drop the case.
Polanski won an Oscar award in 2002 for directing "The Pianist." He was previously nominated for an Oscar for directing "Chinatown" and "Tess," and screenwriting on "Rosemary's Baby."
(Xinhua New Agency February 18, 2009)
