Roman Polanski To Face Civil Trial For Alleged 1973 Rape Of A Minor

The plaintiff, who says she was 16 at the time, announced her suit and a trial date at a news conference with attorney Gloria Allred.

A civil lawsuit accusing director Roman Polanski of the 1973 rape of a minor will go to trial next year in Los Angeles.

The unnamed plaintiff announced her suit and the Aug. 4, 2025, trial date during a news conference with attorney Gloria Allred on Tuesday, when they detailed her accusation that Polanski supplied her with alcohol and raped her in his Los Angeles home when she was 16.

The plaintiff, referred to as Jane Doe in the lawsuit, initially made her accusation in 2017 under the pseudonym Robin M. after a woman who’d accused Polanski of raping her in 1977, at age 13, asked a judge to dismiss that criminal case against him. The case was not dismissed.

Allred, reading from the lawsuit, said, “Plaintiff remembers waking up in Defendant’s bed with him lying in the bed next to her.”

“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.’”