Forget it, Roman, it's Chinatown...

By Eriq Gardner

As a general rule, judges are very territorial. So it's not surprising that a three-judge panel in California's 2nd District Court of Appeals has rejected an attempt by Roman Polanski's lawyers to move his decades-old statutory rape case from the L.A. County Superior Court.

A new hearing will now be set to consider Polanski's motion to dismiss. But Polanski's 239-page tome and even pleas by Polanski's victim to move on are probably all for naught. A stubborn judiciary demands respect as well as jurisdiction. Polanski's motion will likely not be considered without an in-court appearance, and the 75-year-old director said a couple weeks ago that he "has no U.S. return plan."

Maybe the judges at the appeals court also read the quotes from Polanski and his lawyers on how the campaign to dismiss the rape charge was to punish legal system "misconduct." If so, we can't help think that the judges would probably have concluded that moving the case, or shrugging off Polanski's absence, wouldn't do much to meet the ends. 

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