AFP - A Los Angeles court on Tuesday dismissed a bid by fugitive director Roman Polanski to quash a decades-old rape conviction, but said the case may be heard if he returned to the United States.
   
Oscar-winner Polanski, famed for films such as "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown," fled the United States in 1978 before being sentenced for his guilty plea to a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.
   
Lawyers for the 75-year-old director, who now lives in France, had sought to have the charges against Polanski dismissed, claiming that the late judge who heard the case had improperly colluded with prosecutors.
   
The challenge was made after the allegation of misconduct emerged in a documentary released last year "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired."
   
Judge Peter Espinoza sided with prosecutors Tuesday however by saying Polanski's move to dismiss the charges could not be heard as long as the director remained a fugitive from justice.
   
But Espinoza said if Polanski returned to the United States by May 7 his case may be considered. In a further boost for Polanski, Espinoza also said he believed there had been "substantial misconduct" during the earlier case.
   
Defense attorneys had previously said in court papers Polanski had no intention of returning to the US.
   
The woman named as the victim in the 1970s case has also joined the defense in urging it be dismissed.
   
In a four-page declaration filed last month, Samantha Geimer -- a 45-year-old mother of four -- said she is "surprised and disappointed" that the district attorney has opposed dropping the case.
   
"The time has come for this case to end, your honor," the woman's attorney, Lawrence Silver, told the judge. "Had Mr Polanski been treated fairly, we would not be here 32 years later."