Left: YouTube screengrab from CW affiliate KTLA from Gloria Allred press conference with victim “Jane Doe” who accuses director Roman Polanski, right, of rape. Right: Director Roman Polanski during a photocall session of his film ‘D’apres une histoire vraie’ at the 70th Cannes International Film Festival. 05/27/2017. (Ekaterina Chesnokova/Sputnik via AP.)
Famed film director Roman Polanski will face civil trial this August in the United States in a lawsuit accusing him of plying a 16-year-old girl with tequila before raping her in his California home more than thirty years ago.
The civil trial will begin Aug. 4, according to a review of the docket at the Los Angeles County Superior Court. The development was formally announced first, however, on Tuesday during a press conference by the accuser’s attorney, Gloria Allred.
The lawsuit is tied to a complaint filed against Polanski in the U.S. dating back to June 2023 from a woman identified by Allred as Jane Doe.
Polanski’s attorney Alexander Rufus-Isaacs told Law&Crime in an email on Wednesday that the director “strenuously denies the allegations made against him in the lawsuit and believes that the proper place to try this case is in the courts, and not in press conferences.”
He would not speculate any further about how long the case may take once it gets underway.
Polanski fled the U.S. in the late 1970s after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting 13-year old girl, who he also allegedly drugged. Those charges, totally separate from the allegations in this latest lawsuit, were dropped decades later. He has resided in Paris ever since and that is where he was served with Jane Doe’s lawsuit.
According to local CW affiliate KTLA, during a press conference with Allred, Doe told reporters the decision to file suit against the 90-year-old Oscar winning filmmaker had long been delayed.
“It took me a really long time to file this suit against Mr. Polanski but I finally did make that decision and I decided I want to file it to obtain justice and accountability,” she said.
Reading from the civil complaint, Allred said Polanski told her client when she was just 16 that he “wanted to have sex with her” shortly after feeding her so much alcohol that she lost consciousness and fell asleep in his bed.
“Plaintiff though groggy alleges she told defendant ‘no’ and told him ‘please don’t do this,’” Allred said.
In addition to rape, Doe also alleges sexual battery and emotional distress.
Polanski is unlikely to face trial in person. When he fled the U.S. in 1978 it was because he feared the judge, who had agreed to drop more serious rape charges in favor of lesser ones for his guilty plea, would backpedal on the deal. As ABC affiliate WJLA reported, those suspicions turned out to be true, prompting Polanski’s exit from America.
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