REVISITING THE PAST

Polanski Seeks Close to Rape Case

Alan Dershowitz to represent him.

Roman Polanski really wants his statutory-rape case behind him. Lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who lives in Massachusetts, filed a motion Monday to represent the 81-year-old director in California. The filing charges prosecutors with using false information to try to extradite Polanski from Poland. The filing also demands a hearing to close the case, based in part on new testimony that a 2009 superior court judge said had “unethically prejudged issues related to Mr. Polanski’s prosecution, and had a secret plan to jail him at least briefly,” according to The New York Times. In 1977, Polanksi pleaded guilty (in a plea bargan) to statuory rape of then-13-year-old Samantha Geimer. Polanski fled the U.S. before sentencing. His case caps off a year that has seen a number of older male Hollywood figures come face-to-face with histories of sexual-assault allegations, including Bill Cosby and Woody Allen.