'70s Polanski sex charges stand

LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has rejected an effort by famed director Roman Polanski to dismiss all sexual assault charges against him in a three-decade-old case that spurred him to flee to Europe to avoid sentencing.

A court spokesman confirmed Wednesday to the Los Angeles Times the court's denial of the bid.

Last week, Polanski's legal team - which now includes celebrity attorney Alan M. Dershowitz - made accusations of prosecutorial misconduct in its effort to end the case. The charges have kept the director out of the United States as well as many countries that have extradition treaties with the U.S.

Polanski, 81, was aiming to finally wrap up the legal drama that has kept him an exile from the United States since 1978.

Polanski's new motion, filed earlier this month in L.A. County Superior Court, centered on an attempt in October to arrest Polanski while he was attending the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews in Warsaw.

Polanski's attorneys say the extradition request omits the fact that he served court-ordered prison time because prosecutors were trying to align the case history to meet the criteria of an extradition treaty between the U.S. and Poland.

The prison time has proved controversial because the order purportedly took place in 1977 in an off-the-record meeting between the prosecutor and the defense attorney.

The prosecutor and Polanski's attorney understood that this time in the prison would serve as Polanski's punishment, Monday's filing said.