Roman Polanski won't face LA trial for 'raping underage girl in 1973

Director Roman Polanski will no longer face trial in the US over the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl more than 40 years ago.

The case against Polanski, 91, was due to proceed in civil court in Los Angeles next August, but has now been settled. 

The French-Polish director fled the United States decades ago after admitting to the statutory rape of another 13-year-old.

The latest case was 'settled in the summer to the parties' mutual satisfaction and has now been formally dismissed,' Polanski's attorney Alexander Rufus-Isaacs said.

The suit, filed last year, claimed Polanski took a then-teenager to dinner at a restaurant in Los Angeles in 1973.

He allegedly gave her tequila, and when she began to feel dizzy, drove her to his home, where he forced himself on her.

'She told him: "Please don't do this",' the plaintiff's lawyer, Gloria Allred, told reporters in March.

'She alleges that he ignored her pleas. She also alleges that defendant Polanski removed plaintiff's clothes and he proceeded to sexually assault her, causing her tremendous physical, emotional pain and suffering.'

The plaintiff, known as Jane Doe, appeared with Allred at a news conference in 2017 in which she said she had been 16 at the time of the alleged assault.

She said she had spoken about what happened to one friend the day after but had not told anyone about it ever since. 

The civil suit, which sought unspecified damages, was filed in June 2023, just before the expiration of a California law that allowed for an extended window for claims against the alleged perpetrators of sexual crimes.

Court papers filed in California in July said a 'conditional' accord had been reached.

Allred said in an email late Tuesday that 'a settlement of claims was agreed to by the parties to their mutual satisfaction.'

Oscar-winner Polanski is a divisive figure, with some in the movie world hailing his creative genius, while others insist he was always a sexual predator.

Polanski admitted to the statutory rape of 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in a plea bargain in 1977 to avoid a trial on more serious charges.

But he fled to France the following year, after serving 42 days in jail, when it appeared a judge was reconsidering his release. France does not extradite its citizens.

Geimer has subsequently defended Polanski, and was photographed with him last year.

A French court in May acquitted Polanski of defaming British actor Charlotte Lewis after she accused him of raping her when she was a teenager.

The director has always denied wrongdoing, but has since apologized to Geimer who was awarded a $600,000 sum from Polanski.

He has managed to maintain his film career and directed 'The Palace' in 2023.

However, he was expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2018.