Polanski asks fate if he returns

LOS ANGELES — Roman Polanski’s lawyer asked a judge Monday to signal how the fugitive director would be sentenced if he returned to California to resolve his underagesex-abuse case.

Judge Scott Gordon heard arguments in the 40-year-old case and said he will issue a written order.

Polanski’s lawyer, Harland Braun, said he was trying to find a solution for a unique case, while a prosecutor said the Oscar-winner (photo) was trying to get special treatment and dictate the case from afar. Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee said Polanski needs to appear in court. She urged the judge to reject what she called an attempt to give a “wealthy celebrity different treatment than any other fugitive.”

The hearing was the first time in seven years that a Los Angeles judge has considered Polanski’s case, which dates to 1977. He was accused of plying a 13-year-old girl with champagne and part of a sedative pill, then raping her at actor Jack Nicholson’s house.

Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor but fled Los Angeles on the eve of sentencing in 1989. Since then, his movements have been restricted to Europe.

The victim has said she forgives the “Rosemary’s Baby” director and believes the case should end.

Polanski, 83, has long contended he’s the victim of judicial misconduct because a now-deceased judge suggested privately that he would renege on a plea bargain calling for no more time behind bars after he spent 42 days undergoing screening .