L.A. judge sets 2025 trial date for Roman Polanski accused of raping woman in 1973 - but will he show up after flouting US cases for years while living in Switzerland

A California judge has set an August 2025 trial date for infamous director Roman Polanski in a civil cased filed by a woman who claimed he raped her in 1973.

Polanski has faced numerous sexual assault allegations in the United States but has flouted prosecution after fleeing to Europe in 1978 on the eve of sentencing for raping a 13 year-old.

The lawsuit, filed by a different woman anonymized as Jane Doe, claims the director raped her when she was a child at his home in Benedict Canyon, reported KYMA.

At a press conference on Tuesday, her attorney Gloria Allred said Polanski was served with the lawsuit at his Paris home.

'It took me a really long time to decide this suit against Mr. Polanski,' the plaintiff said at the press conference. 

A California judge has sent an August 2025 trial date for infamous director Roman Polanski in a civil cased filed by a woman (right) who claimed he raped her in 1973

'It took me a really long time to decide this suit against Mr. Polanski,' the plaintiff said at the press conference

Allred said Polanski was served with the lawsuit at his Paris home. Allred said Polanski would not have to attend the civil trial in person, but could appear virtually if need

Allred said Polanski would not have to attend the civil trial in person, but could appear virtually if need.

'He is not coming back, but this is a civil lawsuit. He does not have to appear,' Allred said.

'We are going to depose him. At least that's our intention at this time, that could change.'

The woman first came forward at a press conference with Allred in August 2017, reported Variety.

According to the lawsuit filed last year, 'Plaintiff remembers waking up in Defendant's bed with him lying in the bed next to her,' the lawsuit said. 

'He told her that he wanted to have sex with her. Plaintiff, though groggy, told Defendant 'No.' She told him, 'Please don't do this.''' 

Deadline reported Polanski's attorney, Alexander Rufus-Isaacs said, 'Mr. Polanski strenuously denies the allegations made against him in the lawsuit and believes that the proper place to try this case is in the courts.'

Polanski is wanted in the United States over the rape of a 13-year-old in 1977 and faces several other accusations of alleged sexual assault dating back decades and past the statute of limitations - all claims he has rejected.  

British actress Charlotte Lewis, who is suing Polanski for defamation recently broke down in tears in a Paris criminal court as she described how he allegedly raped her before launching a 'defamation campaign' to discredit the allegations.

Polanski has faced numerous sexual assault allegations in the United States but has flouted prosecution after fleeing to Europe in 1978

British actress Charlotte Lewis, who is suing Polanski for defamation recently broke down in tears in a Paris criminal court as she described how he allegedly raped her before launching a 'defamation campaign' to discredit the allegations

Lewis, 56, said Polanski attacked her as a teenager before trying to portray her as a child prostitute after she went public with the allegations on the first day of her libel trial against the 90-year-old in the French capital.

Waiving her legal right to anonymity, Ms Lewis said: 'It's a defamation campaign against me that has lasted since 2010. It almost destroyed my whole life.'

Lewis claims she was attacked on the first night she met Polanski, when she was auditioning for his 1986 film 'Pirates' in Paris. She first made the allegations of sexual assault in 2010, which were dismissed as a 'heinous lie' by Polanski years later.

In court today, Ms Lewis said Polanski tried to present her as a child prostitute, with significant consequences for her reputation and social life.

It was the first time that Polanski, a married father of two, has faced court justice since running away from America in 1977 after pleading guilty to having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.