Roman Polanski Requests Dismissal of Sex Charge

Polanski, the director of "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby," has continued to direct films while in exile, including the 2002 Holocaust drama "The Pianist," for which he won the best-director Academy Award.

The woman with whom Polanski admitted having sex has said that she wants the charge dropped and that Polanski should be allowed to return to the United States.

The case was a sensation when it broke. Polanski, the widower of Manson family murder victim Sharon Tate, was arrested for having sex with the girl, whom he had hired as a model for a photo shoot. He was accused of giving her Quaaludes and champagne, taking her into a hot tub nude, and having sex with her.

The new effort to wipe out the charge comes after an HBO documentary, "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," in which the man who prosecuted Polanski, retired Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson, said that if he had been in Polanski's position, he also would have fled the country.

The documentary also portrayed the late Superior Court Judge Laurence J. Rittenband as a publicity hound who held news conferences and engaged in extrajudicial meetings about the case.

In a legal brief, the attorneys quoted heavily from the documentary, citing statements by former Deputy District Attorney David Wells in which he acknowledged advising the judge on how to sentence the film director, even though he was not assigned to the case.

The lawyers said that Wells' recommendation to send Polanski away for a diagnostic study was illegal without Polanski's lawyers present. They said Wells also inflamed the judge by showing him photos depicting Polanski with girls at an Oktoberfest party in Germany while he was awaiting sentencing. They said the photos were misrepresented.

"As the result of DDA Wells' illegal ... communications, Mr. Polanski has been subject to a punishment that has spanned the course of over 30 years," the motion stated, noting he has been deprived of opportunities to work on films outside France.