Los Angeles, Dec 11 (DPA) Lawyers for Roman Polanski appealed to a California appeals court in a bid to have the case against him dismissed citing judicial and prosecutorial misconduct.
The court motion came Thursday as the director, 76, is under house arrest in Gstaad, Switzerland, pending deportation hearings that could see him sent to the US to face justice for the 1978 rape of a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles.
Lawyers for the Oscar-winning director appealed to have the case dismissed earlier this year citing illegal collusion between prosecutors and the judge in the original case. However, the court ruled that it could only hear the appeal if Polanski turned himself in to pursue his claim that his conviction was tainted by judicial and prosecutorial misconduct.
No immediate ruling is expected in Polanski’s appeal. Court spokesman Danny Potter said that the ruling could take as long as a month.