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Letterman: Joe Halderman hearing next week
Photo credit: CBS
And now this, friends: Joe Halderman's day in court draws near.
A motions hearing is set for next Tuesday at 11 , at 100 Centre Street.
How big a deal is this? Gerald Shargel, Halderman's lawyer, tells me it's not - and that's my understanding as well. If - for example - he were to seek to examine the minutes of the grand jury (which indicted) and then challenge those, I am told he would have had to do that a couple weeks ago (Halderman was indicted Oct. 2.)
Where does it go from here? Says Shargel, he's "preparing for a case for trial."
Even so, there could be surprises next week.
Tomorrow's wrap today...
The next chapter in the wrenching David Letterman saga opens next Tuesday morning, when Joe Halderman - the man accused of extorting the talk show host - is scheduling to appear before a judge for a motions hearing at 100 Centre Street.
Gerald Shargel, Halderman's lawyer said yesterday, "in the filing of motions you go physically before the judge and hand in your papers, and they set another day to come back. Nothing terribly exciting, but having said that, it's 96 percent certain I will file the motions on Tuesday but not a hundred percent. There will still be a court appearance."
Letterman is not expected to appear - plaintiffs rarely if ever are at a motions hearing - although Halderman is.
In a motion, a lawyer makes a request to the presiding judge to make a ruling on a specific matter, though according to a source, such hearing often result in the setting of various dates. "Most judges are not going to set a trial date [at this hearing but] interim dates so you move the case along," this person said.
The presiding judge in the Letterman case is Charles H. Solomon, appointed by Rudolph Giuliani to the Criminal Court in 1986.
There's been considerable TV industry speculation that Letterman would ask the District Attorney's office to push for a plea bargain to avert the spectacle off a trial - and considerable speculation that Shargel would welcome such a request.
When asked yesterday whether he would hope to negotiate a plea in lieu of a trial, he said "there's nothing in the pipeline other than preparing a case for trial." He declined to elaborate on what sort of motions he would file Tuesday.
Tags: letterman , joe halderman , gerald shargel
