Focus in Polanski case shifts back to Switzerland

* Swiss authorities waiting for California court rulings

* Polanski running out of options in California courts

* Lawyers for director mum on next move

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES, April 23 (Reuters) - Filmmaker Roman Polanski has hit a dead end in his bid to be sentenced in absentia for a sex crime 33 years ago, shifting attention back to extradition proceedings in Switzerland, legal experts said on Friday.

Swiss authorities who have Polanski under house arrest have said they would put a U.S. request for his extradition on hold until California's courts decided whether he could be sentenced from abroad.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza ruled in January that he must return to California before the case can be put to rest, and a state appeals court affirmed that decision on Thursday.

Polanski was charged in 1977 with raping a 13-year-old girl in Hollywood after plying her with champagne and drugs. He later pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with a minor.

But the director fled the United States to his native France before sentencing, fearing the judge would impose more prison time than the 42 days he had already spent behind bars for a psychiatric evaluation.

Polanski, now 76, has lived since then as a fugitive from justice, facing the prospect of arrest the moment he sets foot back on American soil while continuing his film career.

In 2003, he won an Oscar as best director for the acclaimed Holocaust film "The Pianist." His latest movie, "The Ghost Writer," won him the best director prize at the Berlin film festival in February, even as he remained under house arrest.

His lawyers have fought for years to have the case thrown out on the grounds that Polanski was a victim of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct, issues the courts have ruled they cannot address unless he returns to California.

NEXT STEP UNKNOWN

Polanski's Los Angeles-based lawyers declined to say what their next move might be. They could petition the state Supreme Court to intervene, but legal scholars said that would be a long shot.

"I don't really hold out any hope for them on the appellate issue," said Laurie Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor who has followed the case closely. "They're probably stuck right now in Espinoza's court, and it's a question of when and how, or if, this extradition is going to happen."

Steven Cron, who teaches law at Pepperdine University, agreed the state's high court was unlikely to even consider the issue on its merits if defense lawyers sought a hearing there.

"There has to be something that grabs the interest of the California Supreme Court that makes them feel the decision was wrong or that this is a significant issue that needs to be litigated," Cron said.

"It seems like this is not a matter of grave significance to the general population," Cron said. "There's a good chance that he's done with his California litigation, and now he has to turn to the courts in Switzerland."

A spokesman for the Swiss Justice Ministry, Folco Galli, declined to comment on Friday on any timeframe for the government there on how or when to proceed.

But a written statement on Friday from one of Polanski's lawyers, Douglas Dalton, indicated they are looking ahead to the Swiss courts, repeating his claim that L.A. prosecutors made a "false sworn statement" in their extradition request.

Prosecutors have disputed Polanski's assertions of false statements and other misconduct in their court filings. (Editing by Dan Whitcomb; editing by Todd Eastham)