Judge: Polanski won't be sentenced in abstentia

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Los Angeles judge has ruled Roman Polanski must return to the U.S. to be sentenced in a decades-old sex case.

Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza's ruling Friday is likely to be appealed.

Attorneys for the 76-year-old Polanski attorneys have argued their client should be sentenced in abstentia to time already served after pleading guilty in 1978 to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.

Prosecutors insist Polanski must appear in a Los Angeles courtroom and not be permitted to manipulate the justice system.

Polanski is under house arrest in his Swiss vacation home.