Polanski May Still Dodge US Jail Time

The California court that rejected Roman Polanski's request to dismiss his case because of judicial misconduct yesterday outlined a way for the case to be resolved without the director being extradited to the US, the Los Angeles Times reports. The three-justice panel recommended that the director be sentenced in absentia, with allegations of prosecutorial and judicial misconduct taken into account.

"We are confident that the trial court could fashion a legal sentence that results in no further incarceration for Polanski," the justices wrote. The recommendation is "a pretty darn good solution for Polanski," said one legal expert surprised at the unusually hands-on approach from the court. "This could all go away and we would all kinda scratch our heads and wonder what has taken 30 years." (More extradition stories.)