Roman Polanski’’s illegal sex victim Samantha Geimer has no right to call for the three-decade-old case against the Oscar-winning filmmaker to be dismissed, US prosecutors told a court.
Los Angeles County prosecutors told the California Second District Court of Appeal that a recent constitutional revision did not give victims the right to determine the outcome of criminal cases, reports The Daily Express.
In a filing, they also called upon the appeals court to reject requests by Geimer to have the case transferred to another county and unseal recent testimony by a former prosecutor.
Prosecutors believe granting her request for dismissal would “fundamentally alter the way in which crimes are prosecuted”.
The filing says that if victims were parties to criminal cases, cases could be dropped either through intimidation, coercion or public pressure.
Geimer asked the appeals court to dismiss the case and make the other rulings in March.
She has repeatedly tried to have the case dismissed, saying renewed interest in the case and its media coverage is quite a harrowing experience for her.
Polanski, 76, is accused of having had illegal intercourse with Geimer, when she was 13, in 1977.
The Rosemary’’s Baby director pleaded guilty to the charge but fled the US on the eve of his sentencing.
He is currently under house arrest in his chalet in the Swiss luxury resort of Gstaad.
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