This just in: Roman Polanski is still wanted in L.A.

Prosecutors in L.A. argued Thursday that Roman Polanski must appear in a U.S. court if he wants to argue for a lighter sentence.

Lawyers for the Oscar-winning director, 76, went to an appeals court seeking to have his 1977 guilty plea for sex with a minor dismissed because of long-ago "backroom manipulations," Reuters reports. But prosecutor Phyllis Asayama said the filmmaker, now under house arrest in Switzerland and fighting extradition, can't be allowed to "mail in" his defense. Polanski faces up to two years in prison.