Los Angeles D.A. Calls Swiss Decision on Polanski a "Disservice to Justice"

Sounding undeterred by Switzerland's refusal to extradite Roman Polanski, Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley said he'll seek to get the filmmaker back if he's caught by a country willing to return him.

"We will discuss with the Department of Justice the extradition of Roman Polanski if he's arrested in a cooperative jurisdiction," said Cooley, who's running for California attorney general.

Swiss government rejects U.S. request to extradite Polanski

The Swiss government said U.S. authorities failed to provide confidential testimony about Polanski's sentencing procedure in 1977-78.

Cooley called the Swiss decision a "disservice to justice and other victims as a whole."

"To justify their finding to deny extradition on an issue that is unique to California law regarding conditional examination of a potentially unavailable witness is a rejection of the competency of the California courts," he said. "The Swiss could not have found a smaller hook on which to hang their hat."

Polanski breaks silence: I'm being served "on a platter to the media"

Polanski, the 76-year-old Oscar-winning director of The Pianist, was arrested Sept. 26 by Swiss authorities and placed under house arrest at his chalet in Gstaad in November.

The filmmaker, whose credits include Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown, was accused of giving champagne and part of a Quaalude to a 13-year-old girl before raping her during a 1977 modeling shoot. He fled the United States in 1978 for France after pleading guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with the girl.

The Obama administration was disappointed by the Swiss decision, The Associated Press quoted State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley as saying. "The United States believes that the rape of a 13-year-old child by an adult is a crime, and we continue to pursue justice in this case," Crowley said.