The government's investigation of Anthony Pellicano yielded the first prison term for a major Hollywood figure Monday when a federal judge ordered director John McTiernan to spend four months behind bars for lying to the FBI about hiring the indicted private investigator.
With some stinging comments about McTiernan and what U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer described as his lack of contrition, she sentenced the 56-year-old director of hit films including "Die Hard" and "Predator" after denying his request to withdraw his guilty plea.
The long-running Pellicano investigation once thrust some of Hollywood's biggest names into an unwanted spotlight, but only a few marquee names, McTiernan prominent among them, have been prosecuted, and no others have been sentenced. The trial of Pellicano and five others is scheduled to begin in February.
Last year, McTiernan acknowledged paying Pellicano $50,000 to wiretap film producer Charles Roven after their collaboration on the 2002 film "Rollerball." The director also admitted that he misled an FBI agent who had telephoned him last year to ask about Pellicano, who is charged with wiretapping, conspiracy, racketeering and other crimes.
During the court hearing Monday, the judge revealed that McTiernan had hired Pellicano after learning that Roven, whose productions include "Batman Begins," "Three Kings" and "Scooby-Doo," had secured the rights to buy the film "Rollerball" during its production. The film turned out to be a box office flop.
With new counsel, McTiernan had sought to withdraw his guilty plea on the grounds that he was jet-lagged and under the influence of alcohol and medications when he was questioned by the agent. McTiernan's attorneys also insisted that their client did not understand the consequences of denying his involvement with Pellicano and that his lie, although serious, did not rise to the level of a crime and should not have been charged as a felony.
"What he is asking for is his day in court," attorney Cornell Price told the judge.
But Assistant U.S. Atty. Daniel Saunders said McTiernan's recent claims "don't do anything to put in doubt this defendant's [previous] statements in this court, under oath, that he knew" he had lied to the FBI.
Saunders added that McTiernan's comments, combined with other evidence, suggest that the director had not only used Pellicano to wiretap Roven but also had employed the private investigator years earlier during a bitter and highly publicized divorce from his then-wife, Donna Dubrow.
