Roman Polanski will not be sentenced in absentia, says judge

Film director Roman Polanski has been asked to surrender himself by a US Superior Court judge in connection to a decades-old sex case.

London, Jan 23 : Film director Roman Polanski has been asked to surrender himself by a US Superior Court judge in connection to a decades-old sex case.

Polanski, 76, had been sentenced in 1978 to a diagnostic study at a California prison where he served 42 days, and he had been told by the late Superior Court Judge Laurence J. Rittenband that it would be his full sentence, reports the Telegraph.

But after the judge indicated he was going to renege on the bargain and give him a harsher sentence at a scheduled hearing, Polanski fled to France and has since been a fugitive.

Now the director's attorney have argued their client should be sentenced in absentia to time already served after pleading guilty in 1978 to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.

But Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza said he ruled "in defence of the integrity of the justice system, he needs to surrender".

Prosecutors insist Polanski must appear in a Los Angeles courtroom and not be permitted to manipulate the justice system.

Michael Brennan, a law professor at the University of Southern California, said it's highly unusual for a defendant to be sentenced in absentia.

His attorneys said the judge's promise is binding and Polanski has served his full sentence.

They have asked Espinoza for a full hearing with witnesses about allegations of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct in the case .

ANI