Director John McTiernan Prepares to Appeal Sentence

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Die Hard" director John McTiernan was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $100,000 on Monday for lying during the wiretapping investigation of Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano and about his involvement in the wiretapping of producer Charles Roven. U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer gave a stinging rebuke from the bench before sentencing McTiernan, saying "the defendant doesn't feel the law applies to him."

McTiernan declined the opportunity to address the court or speak with reporters outside the courtroom, but free pending an appeal, he spoke to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Hollywood Reporter: You were given the opportunity to speak before sentencing, but you chose not to. Why?

John McTiernan: My lawyers said that if I said one thing that's really on my mind, than they could guarantee that I was going to prison right now. I was all prepared. They spent basically 36 hours pleading with me. (I was told,) "You'll feel good for about five minutes, and then you'll curse yourself for a long time afterwards."

THR: What would you have said?

McTiernan: I'm not saying anything. There wasn't any point in saying anything in that venue; that venue wasn't listening.

THR: There were pointed comments from the bench about not eating "aged cheese and fine wine" in prison. Where did that come from?

McTiernan: (Judge Fischer) was trying to ridicule me. I take a very heavy-duty antidepressant; I've lived on it for 35 years, and it has heavy dietary restrictions. And what they did was take the silliest of them and put them in. It was some ridicule the prosecution had put in their papers, and she just repeated it over.

THR: You'll be appealing?

McTiernan: We're already filing the papers. I've already paid the appeals lawyer.

THR: Are you optimistic that you will not serve the sentence?

McTiernan: I didn't start this because I was afraid to go to jail. It would have been much easier to go to jail. And less expensive. And some of the minimum-security prison camps are not bad, and there are actually interesting people there. And I have managed to live my life not being too afraid of new experiences, including going off to a federal prison for four months. That isn't why I started this fight. I started because these people have less respect for the law than they accuse me of having.

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'Die Hard' Director Pleads Guilty in Wiretap Case

LOS ANGELES — "Die Hard" director John McTiernan pleaded guilty Monday to lying to FBI agents and a judge during the investigation of Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano in a wiretapping case.

McTiernan, 59, entered his plea to two counts of making false statements to the FBI and one count of perjury for lying to a federal judge while trying to withdraw a guilty plea. He could face up to a year in prison.

Attorney S. Todd Neal, who represents McTiernan, said the plea will allow his client to appeal certain pretrial rulings made by a federal judge.

"We continue to believe that the charges against him were developed in an unfair way," Neal said. "The FBI should not be in the business of ambushing citizens with surprise phone calls in which they ask 'questions' for which they already know the answers."

McTiernan previously pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents in 2006 about the investigation of Pellicano. The director later withdrew that plea, arguing he didn't have adequate legal representation.

Pellicano was convicted in 2008 of wiretapping film producer Charles Roven for McTiernan and of bugging the phones of celebrities and others to get information for clients.

Pellicano was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.

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"Investigator to the Stars" Convicted in Wiretapping

Anthony Pellicano, a private investigator who once worked for Hollywood stars, and a prominent lawyer, Terry N. Christensen, were convicted Friday in the wiretapping of the ex-wife of the investor Kirk Kerkorian in a child-support case.

Both Mr. Christensen and Mr. Pellicano, 65, were convicted of conspiracy to commit wiretapping in Federal District Court here. Mr. Christensen was also convicted of aiding and abetting a wiretap; Mr. Pellicano was also convicted of wiretapping.

The conclusion of the six-week trial before Federal District Judge Dale S. Fischer opens the door for a number of civil suits against the two men as well as several others in the case. The suits, which were delayed during the criminal proceedings, largely involve victims of wiretapping seeking damages for incidents in which private conversations were recorded.

How Lawyers Work with Private Eyes

In one of their first phone calls, the lawyer and his private investigator outlined in no uncertain terms one ground rule: Their discussions were to be strictly confidential.

"The conversations are just between you and I," the private eye tells the attorney.

"Right," the attorney says.

"Period," the private eye adds.

In the end, however, their conversations were anything but confidential. That phone call and dozens of other recordings were played in federal court in Los Angeles this month, where the attorney, Terry Christensen, and the private detective, Anthony Pellicano, are on trial for allegedly conspiring to wiretap the former wife of billionaire Kirk Kerkorian.

Because Pellicano was a well-known sleuth-to-the-stars, with clients such as comedian Chris Rock and actor Tom Cruise, his legal troubles have generated interest in Hollywood circles. But his current trial is also being closely followed by Los Angeles' legal community because it thrusts into the limelight a type of relationship the public rarely sees: that of a lawyer and his private investigator.

Hollywood Investigator to Be His Own Lawyer

A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Anthony Pellicano, the Hollywood private investigator facing trial on wiretapping and conspiracy charges, can represent himself at trial next month. Judge Dale S. Fischer of United States District Court said she was bound by Supreme Court case law to let Mr. Pellicano do so, but urged him to reconsider. The ruling raises the prospect that Mr. Pellicano, who often grabbed the limelight in his career as an investigator to the stars, would again take center stage at his trial, set to begin Feb. 27.