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Jail time for Die Hard director
25/09/2007 09:42 - (SA)
Los Angeles - A US judge sentenced Hollywood director John McTiernan to four months in prison on Monday after refusing to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea to charges of lying to the FBI about his association with disgraced private eye Anthony Pellicano.
The judge gave the director of such films as Die Hard and The Thomas Crown Affair until January 15 to turn himself in to authorities. McTiernan's attorney said he would appeal.
McTiernan also was ordered to pay a $100 000 fine.
Pellicano, who served 2 1/2 years in federal prison for possessing illegal weapons, has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of bugging phones and bribing police to get information on celebrities and others.
When he entered his plea last year, McTiernan said he lied when he told an FBI agent the only time he used Pellicano's services was during his divorce.
He said he hired Pellicano to wiretap Charles Roven, who had worked with him on the 2002 box-office flop Rollerball.
McTiernan originally was scheduled to be sentenced two weeks ago, but that hearing was delayed after his attorney asked that he be allowed to withdraw the plea and fight the charge.
Medication
Attorney Milton Grimes said at the time that McTiernan had not had adequate legal representation when he entered the plea.
On Monday, the defence argued that when McTiernan spoke to the FBI agent he was tired from having returned from a long trip to Asia, was taking antibiotics for a sinus infection and had gone off his anti-depression medication.
McTiernan did not speak.
Grimes disagreed with the judge's observation that McTiernan "lived a privileged life and simply wants to continue that."
"He's probably one of the most down-to-earth people I've met in Hollywood in my 30 years working here," Grimes said.
- AP
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South Africa
