David Letterman’s extortioner, Robert Halderman, has plead guilty to grand larceny for an attempt to blackmail David Letterman for $2 million last year. Halderman, a former producer at CBS News, approached the Late Night host last fall with a blackmail scheme in which he tried to sell a “screenplay” with salacious details of Letterman’s affairs with staffers. Halderman’s ex girlfriend, Letterman’s former assistant Stephanie Birkitt, was involved with Letterman allegedly as recently as 2008. Dave made a statement on the air in October of last year that he was the victim of an extortion attempt and admitted that he’d “had sex with women who work on this show.” The humor and grace with which he handled the disclosure helped thwart a lot of the gossip.

Details of other supposed affairs came out but none were particularly salacious and Letterman was not accused of sexual harassment. (Dave was technically single at the time, although he’s been in a long term relationship with his wife of just about one year, Regina Lasko, since 1986.)

When Halderman plead guilty he read out a statement in court admitting to extortion. In exchange he received 6 months in jail and four and a half months probation. It’s thought that Letterman pressed prosecutors to get jail time for Halderman. If Halderman discloses any of the dirt he has on Letterman, like personal e-mails, diary entries and IM chat logs, he could go to jail for seven years.

A CBS News producer who blackmailed David Letterman for $2 million is going away for six months – and his lurid tales of the star’s sexual escapades will disappear forever.

A plea deal spared Emmy winner Robert (Joe) Halderman a 15-year prison term while saving the late-night host from more humiliation over his office romances.

The carefully crafted nine-page agreement announced Tuesday blocks Halderman, 52, from going public with any information he gleaned about Letterman.

That includes diary entries made by ex-girlfriend Stephanie Birkitt about her affair with the married Letterman, along with any e-mails, audio recordings or instant messages. If he even talks about it, he could go to jail for seven years – and his lawyer was ordered to remove the material from his computer hard drive.

“They were very protective of Letterman,” said a source close to prosecutors. “They wanted to make sure he was not damaged in any way.”

Letterman lawyer Daniel Horowitz acknowledged they were consulted on the agreement, adding that the “Late Show” host wanted jail time for Halderman.

In a scripted Manhattan Supreme Court appearance, Halderman admitted he presented Letterman’s driver with an envelope marked “Privileged and Confidential” on Sept. 9, 2009. It contained a “screenplay” based on Letterman’s sexual shenanigans with “Late Show” staffers.

“This so-called treatment was just a thinly-veiled threat to ruin Mr. Letterman if he did not pay me a lot of money,” Halderman confessed.

“I feel great remorse for what I have done.”

Letterman went to the police after receiving the envelope, earning praise from Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.

“Mr. Letterman risked the disclosure of certain aspects of his private life,” Vance said. “Like all New Yorkers, he has a right to a certain degree of privacy in his personal life.”

Five months ago, Letterman was forced to reveal his dalliances during a “Late Show” taping hours after he appeared before a grand jury.

In exchange for the plea, Halderman will receive a six-month jail term. He will be on probation for 4-1/2 years and perform 1,000 hours of community service – 500 with the homeless and 500 with ex-cons.

He is free pending a May 4 sentencing.

[From NY Daily News]

Dave also made a statement on the air last night discussing the sentencing. He said, in part, that “The people in the District Attorney’s office said, ‘This will be handled professionally, this will be handled skillfully, and appropriately.’ Well, the matter was resolved today, and they were exactly right – it was handled professionally, skillfully and appropriately.” A lot of that is due to the way that Dave handled the crisis himself. By going to the DA immediately and disclosing the matter to the public he helped stave off speculation and kept the matter from becoming a bigger scandal.

Robert Halderman on November 10, 2009, credit: WENN.

Stupid people make me happy. Because they make me feel superior, and thus better about myself. If you were one of the reasonably rational people who assumed David Letterman’s attempted extortionist would make a plea deal, you’d be wrong. Because he is stupid on so many levels, Robert “Joe” Halderman is proceeding straight ahead with his trial. Well, after his equally stupid lawyer tried to get his case thrown out because he claimed Halderman wasn’t trying to extort Letterman, but really was trying to sell him a screenplay about his affair. Thus, it was just a business transaction. Can you believe the judge didn’t go for that? Anyway, the trial is marching onwards.

Just when it was becoming possible to watch the “Late Show with David Letterman” without thinking about the host’s extortion scandal, the case is back in the news.

Robert “Joe” Halderman, the CBS news producer accused of attempting to extort $2 million from Letterman, is due to appear in a Manhattan court Tuesday for the first hearing in the criminal case against him. Before even entering the courtroom, Halderman (who will likely appear, although Letterman probably won’t) was making news.

The New York Observer reported that since his Oct. 2 indictment, he’s raised $100,000 for his defense fund, which would seem to indicate that he won’t be taking any plea deal from the prosecution. If Halderman is found guilty of attempted grand larceny, he could face up to 15 years in state prison. Tuesday’s hearing will likely tackle the mundane issues involved with scheduling future proceedings, but don’t rule out some headline-making from Halderman’s attorney, according to NBC legal analyst Dan Abrams.

“The judge will address any legal issues in front of him, like what sort of evidence the defense is entitled to and when,” said Abrams. “In large part, however, they will assess what the broader legal questions are that need to be resolved and likely set dates for future proceedings. Watch for defense attorney Gerry Shargel, however, to continue his public assault on Letterman’s character. He may also try to make it seem as if he wants to move forward with a trial whether that is true or not. So don’t expect any grand revelations but based on the way Shargel has behaved already, I would not be surprised to hear some theatrics from the defense.”

[From MSNBC]

The angle of it being a legitimate business transaction didn’t work with the judge in terms of getting the case thrown out, but I’d bet that’s still going to be the defense’s argument. I can’t imagine what else they could come up with: there’s only so much creative brainpower between these two. Frankly, from a purely tactical point of view, I’m sort of impressed two boneheads managed to come up with the legit business angle. I mean it’s obvious bull and no one will buy it for a second, but any angle whatsoever is pretty shocking to me.

It’s going to suck for Halderman when he ends up doing the full 15 years. I think he’s genuinely so angry at Letterman that he believes his anger justifies what he did, and the jury will agree with him. If he had any sense whatsoever, he probably could have pleaded out to just a few years.

Here’s Robert Halderman outside of Manhattan Criminal Court today. Images thanks to WENN.com .

The lawyer for Robert “Joe” Halderman promised that we’d soon learn that David Letterman was not as innocent or as nice a guy as we all thought. He said this in a way that implied it would excuse or explain Halderman for attempting to extort $2 million from Letterman over his long affair with Stephanie Birkitt, Halerman’s ex-girlfriend. Thanks to the National Enquirer, we do have a lot of the details. Unfortunately nothing short of David Letterman committing criminal acts would explain or excuse Halderman’s extortion, so while it’s interesting to read, it doesn’t get Halderman off the hook in the slightest. It’s tawdry but not illegal, so I’m not sure why his lawyer thought it would help.

But, like I said, it’s tawdry. Meaning pretty damn interesting. According to the Enquirer, Dave was having an affair with Stephanie since she started working for him in 1996. It wasn’t a brief or even medium-length indiscretion. It was a long-term relationship. The Enquirer also says Stefanie started seeing Halderman when Letterman’s then-girlfriend/now wife Regina Lasko got pregnant six years ago. She was devastated, because she believed if she got pregnant first Dave would leave Regina and marry her instead. Since that didn’t work out, she started dating Halderman, but never really ended things with Letterman.

Here are some more of the Enquirer’s other bits:

The shameless 62-year-old talk-show host put his girlfriend [Birkitt] in charge of his Indy race car team, brazenly took her on trips with his family, and even had her re-enact his favorite “Stupid Pet Tricks” – with her as the pet, sources say… Insiders says Stephanie has competed with Regina – mother of Letterman’s 5-year-ol son Harry – for the “Late Show” host’s affections since she started working for him in 1996.

“It was like Stephanie was in a secret war with Regina that Regina knew nothing about. Stephanie once boasted, ‘Dave may go home to her, but I’m the one he fantasizes about!’” an insider told The Enquirer… Letterman soon hired Stephanie as a personal assistant and put her in charge of his charity work and his Indy race car team, said the source. “Stephanie knew next to nothing about race cars, but it gave her and Dave an excuse to go away together on so-called ‘official business,’” said the source.

“They’d book separate rooms in five-star hotels as a cover, but they would end up staying together.” …Their affair was nearly exposed when a race car owner caught them acting affectionate at the Indianapolis 500 one year. “Dave was stroking Stephanie’s hair and nuzzling her. Someone told the guy she was Dave’s granddaughter – much to Dave’s chagrin,” the source divulged.

“Stephanie has earned more than $2 million from Dave. He paid her a salary of $200,000 a year, and when she said she wanted to go to law school, he paid her tuition…”

… “Stephanie lied to Halderman and insisted she and Dave were ‘just friends’ – even after she flew with Dave to his Montana ranch last fall to go ‘hiking,’” said the source “And when Dave took Regina and Harry to his villa on the Caribbean island of St. Barts, he invited some staffers including Stephanie, so the two could sneak away together.”

[From the National Enquirer, Oct. 26, 2009, print ed.]

According to the Enquirer, Halderman found Stefanie’s journal last December, and had had it after he found her making out with Dave in his car in their driveway. The two were in the breakup process when Halderman learned Dave was buying Stefanie a house. The Enquirer says that’s what set him off and made him decide to extort Dave for $2 million.

After all, why should Stefanie get a $300,000 home and all Halderman gets is a broken heart? The least the guy is owed is $2 million, just like Stefanie, right? Ridiculousness. This doesn’t change my opinion that Halderman is guilty, and I’m sure it won’t change the New York City D.A.’s either. Or the public’s. BUT… yeah, Letterman comes off as not-so-great now. Taking the mistress on vacation with your wife and little son is just awful. It’s sleazy and terrible and whatever other negative adjectives you want to throw in there. Letterman and Birkitt were together so long I can’t help but wonder who he spent more time with: Stefanie or Regina. And why not just break up with Regina if he cared so much about Stefanie? I understand once he had a son, but before that? Why not just end it and not lead such a sleazy lifestyle? Something tells me Dave gets off on the sneaking around, or he would have.

I still think Letterman’s handled this situation as well as he could. But he should have behaved better from the beginning.

Images thanks to Fame Pictures .