The saga of Roman Polanski’s legal troubles continue as a hearing will take place on January 22nd, to consider the director’s request to be sentenced in absentia.
The request came via a notarized document signed by the director and submitted by his LA based lawyer, Chad Hummel. Naturally, prosecutors are completely opposed to the idea, continuing their position that Polanski should come to the United States instead of continuing to the fight the case “from the comfort of his Swiss chalet in the Alps.”
Judge Peter Espinoza is also considering whether or not to hold hearings on alleged judicial misconduct by the prosecution. Back in December an appellate court denied the dismissal of the case on these grounds, but did say the allegations were “extremely serious” and should be investigated. Espinoza won’t confirm whether or not he’ll go down that road, and says he will wait to see what the decision from the Swiss authorities are in regards to extraditing the director. Perhaps a little naively, Espinoza goes on to Polanski could save a lot of people some time by simply saying, “I’ll come back.” Yeah, right.