His attorneys have been in court fighting gamely, but convicted pedophile and child rapist Roman Polanski has reached what should be the end of the road in his bid to return to his glamorous Hollywood lifestyle without having to pay for his sick, depraved crimes. His lawyer was insisting that the judge sentence Polanski in absentia before he would agree to return to the country, but the ruling declares that his status as a fugitive criminal precludes that possibility. (LA Times)

A Los Angeles County judge has denied the latest effort by filmmaker Roman Polanski to resolve his 40-year-old statutory rape case.

In a written decision handed down Monday, L.A. County Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon echoed rulings by previous judges in the case, saying that Polanski’s “motions and corresponding requests are denied.”

But the judge has agreed to a hearing later this month to consider a controversial piece of testimony that the filmmaker is seeking to unseal.

In recent court filings and at a court hearing in March, Polanski asked to be sentenced in absentia, arguing that he has already exceeded the custody time he was originally required to serve.

This wasn’t only the right thing to do legally but it makes total sense in terms of what we could expect as a response from the rapist. If his wish had been granted, one of two things could have happened. If the judge somehow agreed to his insane request that he only be sentenced to time served, he could have come waltzing back home for a discharge hearing and gone back to the cocktail party circuit as a free man. If he received anything even remotely close to what he deserves for what he did (which would be to die in prison) then he could simply remain on the run in Poland and France as he has been for decades.

The wrinkle Polanski is seeking to put into the proceedings is his request to have sealed testimony from the original prosecutor made public for use in his trial. Presumably he believes that the 2010 statement given by Roger Gunson (the prosecutor) would corroborate his claim that a plea deal for time served had been offered back during the original trial.

It seems to me that Polanski and his lawyers are missing the point here. Even if he can prove that such an insultingly small slap on the wrist had been discussed, people aren’t looking to get him over some procedural matter. He may wish to refer to his original crimes as “statutory rape” as if there was just some confusion about whether his “date” was seventeen or eighteen but nobody should be fooled. I will repeat until I’m blue in the face that this monster drugged, raped and sodomized a thirteen year old child. That is not a crime for which 40 days of mental evaluation comes anywhere close to being “justice.” Add to that the fact that he fled the country and flaunted his status while thumbing his nose at us for so long and he should draw his last breath behind bars if there is any justice in the world.

I still maintain there’s got to be some way to get our hands on this guy. I know we used some pretty creative law enforcement during the initial years of the war on terror. Surely somebody could put a bag over his head after one of his parties in Paris and have him wake up in a cell in Egypt or something. Okay… that might sound a bit harsh, but sometimes you just have to think outside the box.