Roman Polanski: Pedophile Director Wants Back In America

Roman Polanski, the disgraced director who fled America after raping a 13-year-old, is ready to face his punishment — if it's agreed that he's already served a 48-day sentence! The Oscar-winner who helmed hits like "Chinatown" took off in 1977 before he was sentenced for drugging and raping the underage teen. Over the years, Polanski has insisted that he ran off after U.S. attorneys refused to honor a plea bargain. Now the desperate director says he's willing to take a slap on the wrist!

The National ENQUIRER revealed in June 2016 that Polanski was panicking over the continuing case — since authorities in his native Poland were ready to get him extradited over the decades-old charges. Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, the country's chief prosecutor, declared his outrage that the sex-crazed director never did time. “If he was just a regular guy — a teacher, doctor, plumber, decorator — then I’m sure he’d have been deported from any country to the U.S. a long time ago,” said Ziobro.

Polanski (seen here with Kate Winslet) has been hiding in Europe for decades after pleading guilty in 1977 to “unlawful sex” with a 13-year-old girl. He took a plea deal to avoid conviction on rape and sodomy charges. He only served 42 days in jail and fled the U.S. before his 1978 sentencing. Now court documents show that Polanski's lawyers are trying to finally put the rape case behind him for good, despite his shocking hopes for leniency.

In addition to the 42 days that Polanski spent in a California prison, he spent 334 days in a Swiss prison — during a time when he seemed set to be extradited to America. Polanski's lawyer, Harland Braun, wants a judge with the L.A. County Superior Court judge to unseal transcripts of a prosecutor's testimony in the original case, in a seeming bid to prove that the 48-day plea bargain had already been agreed to by all parties. The director reportedly sneaked out of the country after learning a judge was still planning to give him a 50-year sentence!

Despite the Justice Minister condemning Polanski, a Polish court has ruled Polanski has already served his time under the proposed plea deal. The director's lawyer is hoping that the Los Angeles courts will agree — which would finally allow Polanski to return to Hollywood after decades in exile. Stars like Harrison Ford and Johnny Depp traveled to work with him, though, and Polanksi even won an Oscar as Best Director for 2003's "The Pianist."

There might also be continuing sympathy for Polanski over the brutal Manson Family murders of 1969 — when his pregnant wife Sharon Tate was brutally murdered with her dinner guests at their Hollywood home. He's been unable to visit Sharon's grave over the decades. Also, his victim has since publicly stated that she's willing to have the case closed with Polanski going free.