Roman Polanski Hopeful Of U.S. Return With Plea Deal

Filmmaker Roman Polanski is reportedly seeking to return to the United States on the condition of a successful plea deal that will see him serve no further jail time over a historic underage sex conviction.

The 83 year old director, who won awards and acclaim for Chinatown, Rosemary’s Baby and The Pianist, has been a fugitive from the United States for nearly four decades, living between France and Poland in the intervening time. However, his attorney Harland Braun has suggested that he has reached a plea deal with American authorities that will keep him out of prison.

Braun says he has written to L.A. county superior court judge Scott Gordon to unseal a secret transcript of the testimony of the prosecutor in the original case, Roger Gunson, which was collected in 2010 which he believes will confirm the terms of the deal.

“After we confirm the contents, we will urge the court to recognise the Polish decision resulting from a litigation initiated by the (district attorney) and in which the DA participated,” Braun told Agence France-Presse on Thursday (February 16th).

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“If the court accepts the principle of comity, Roman can come to Los Angeles and to court without fear of custody.”

Polanski had pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor and served 42 days in Chino State Prison in 1977, having been accused of drugging and raping 13 year old Samantha Gailey at Jack Nicholson’s house in Los Angeles.

He claims that a U.S. judge agreed on a plea deal in 1978 that would make him serve just 48 days, but later the same year he fled the country in fear that the same judge would scrap that plea deal and hand down a hefty sentence behind bars.

More: Poland refuses U.S. extradition warrant for Roman Polanski [archive]