JOHN MCTIERNAN - MCTIERNAN ALLOWED TO WITHDRAW PLEA

MCTIERNAN ALLOWED TO WITHDRAW PLEA

Moviemaker JOHN MCTIERNAN has been given permission to withdraw his guilty plea in a Hollywood wire-tapping case.
The Die Hard director faced a four-month prison sentence after making his plea at the beginning of the investigation of private detective Anthony Pellicano.
But MCTiernan has since insisted he was jet-lagged and under the influence of alcohol at the time (Apr06).
And, on Monday (23Feb09), U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer agreed to allow the filmmaker to reverse his plea to a charge of lying to investigators about his association with Pellicano, who was convicted last year (08).
A $100,000 (£68,900) fine MCTiernan was ordered to pay will also be reviewed as part of an upcoming hearing.
In his plea agreement, the director told FBI investigators he paid Pellicano to conduct an illegal wiretap of film producer Charles Roven.
Pellicano was convicted of wiretapping and sentenced to serve 15 years in federal prison.