US prosecutor demands Polanski's extradition

A US prosecutor urged a California court to reject a request by the lawyers of filmmaker Roman Polanski to sentence him in absentia over a 1978 sex case, DPA reported.

Deputy district attorney David Walgren said a possible sentencing of Polanski, 76, in absentia was not acceptable and called for his extradition from Switzerland, where the Oscar-winning director is under house arrest.

The filmmaker, who directed Chinatown and The Pianist, fled the US in 1978 after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor, as he feared the judge would impose an unusually harsh sentence.

Polanski was a fugitive, Walgren wrote. "The defendant should not, indeed must not, be allowed to dictate to this court or any other court, under what terms these proceedings should proceed."

In early January, a lawyer for Polanski asked the Los Angeles Superior Court to sentence the director in absentia. Judge Peter Espinoza has scheduled another hearing for January 22.

Polanski allegedly gave a 13-year-old model alcohol and drugs during a 1977 photo session at the villa of actor Jack Nicholson, and then had sex with her.

He was initially charged with rape and sodomy, but the charge was changed in a plea deal to unlawful sexual intercourse.