Harland Braun, the lawyer for 88-year-old Polish-French filmmaker Roman Polanski, is reportedly planning a new trial in a California court to have his client's arrest warrant overturned.
Escape from further imprisonment
Polanski pleaded guilty in 1977 to drugging and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl during a photo shoot at Jack Nicholson's Los Angeles mansion.
He then spent six weeks in prison for psychiatric examinations.
As Polanski has said several times, he then fled to Europe, fearing that the court might want to sentence him to another term in prison, contrary to what had been agreed.
As has now become known after the disclosure of the court files, Judge Laurence Rittenband is said to have backed away from his promise to Polanski.
In recent years, the California legal authorities have repeatedly refused a retrial because Polanski refused to come to America.
Los Angeles District Attorney General George Gascón has promised to look at the case "with fresh eyes".