Roman Polanski Thinks He’s Finally Going To Beat That Rape Charge

It’s been over thirty years since Rosemary’s Baby director Roman Polanski fled the U.S. to avoid a prison term for statutory rape, but thanks to a recent documentary about the trial, the unrepentant director thinks he might get the charge erased. Not that he’s claiming innocence or anything (in his autobiography, he claimed he was set up…to have anal sex with a 13 year old after giving her alcohol and Quaaludes)—he just has evidence that the sentencing might have been unfairly influenced by a junior D.A.

In Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired, former deputy David Wells claims he advised the judge on Polanski’s sentencing. While Wells wasn’t directly connected to the prosecution, Polanski’s lawyers argue that conversations between Wells and Judge David S. Wesley construed “repeated unethical and unlawful ex parte communication,” rendering his plea bargain invalid.

While Polanski’s victim says she believes the 75-year-old exile has paid for his crime (Hollywood has certainly forgiven him for assaulting a teenager—he won an Oscar for 2002′s The Pianist), the US has been cool to previous attempts to negotiate Polanski’s return. Why does he want to come back anyway? LA doesn’t look as nice as it did in the ’70s, Roman.