On the heels of a third accuser emerging with claims that convicted rapist and pedophile Roman Polanski sexually assaulted her as a child, the fugitive film director received an answer from a judge to his latest bid to return to Hollywood. (Specifically to be able to return without being arrested the moment he stepped off the plane.) And that answer was a resounding no. (Associated Press)

A Los Angeles judge on Friday denied the impassioned plea of Roman Polanski’s victim to end a four-decade-old sexual assault case against the fugitive director.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon ruled that Polanski must return to California if he expects to resolve charges of sexually abusing a teen. The Oscar winner fled the country on the eve of sentencing in 1978.

Gordon’s ruling follows a fervent request by Samantha Geimer to end a “40-year sentence” she says was imposed on both perpetrator and victim. It was issued on Polanski’s 84th birthday and blamed the director for the fact that the case was still alive.

The serial child abuser’s attorney was seeking the same result they’ve been “demanding” for a long time now. They either want the case ended entirely with time served or to have the judge sentence Polanski in absentia. Either would serve as the vehicle for the monster to be able to come back to California and return to the circuit of awards shows and parties without more than a cursory stop at the courthouse.

His original victim, Samantha Geimer, was once again pleading for leniency for her attacker. (The identity of sexual assault victims is usually masked, but Geimer went public of her own volition decades ago.) As I’ve written here before, that’s obviously her prerogative, and a very Christian attitude to take. But her claims that Polanski has been serving a “40-year sentence” strain credulity. It’s true that Polanski has been unable to go to all the Hollywood parties and awards shows I alluded to above, but he hasn’t exactly been breaking big rocks into little ones, either. The man has been jetting back and forth between Poland, Switzerland, Paris and Milan, hosting European award shows and receiving honors for his body of work by people who apparently either don’t know or don’t care that they are feting a child molester. That’s not exactly a “sentence” in the minds of anyone who has spent so much as a single night in the drunk tank or day picking up trash as community service.

It’s probably far too late, but perhaps someone else could make a plea to whatever remains of Roman Polanski’s conscience. Come back to the United States, Mr. Polanski. Do so without legal chicanery or the clever tactics of your attorneys. Be a man for once in your life. Come back to America and stand in judgement for your horrific crimes.