David Letterman's accused blackmailer heading to court

The hearing scheduled for Tuesday in the David Letterman extortion case is a pretty routine one, but it's looking like it will be the first of many to come.

According to a couple of reports, Robert Joe Halderman, the CBS News producer who's charged with trying to extort $2 million from Letterman, doesn't want to take a plea bargain in the case and is gearing up to go to trial.

Bob Arnot, a former NBC News correspondent and a friend of Halderman's, tells the New York Observer that Halderman has raised $100,000 for his defense and is prepared to put the case before a jury. "This lawyer is a real litigator, and Joe is paying the full boat to go to trial," Arnot says.

Halderman's lawyer, Gerald Shargel, also told Newsday that his client wants to go to trial.

Halderman was arrested Oct. 1 and charged with attempted grand larceny for allegedly trying to extort $2 million from Letterman by threatening to reveal sexual relationships that the "Late Show" host had with female members of his staff. (Halderman lived with one of Letterman's alleged paramours, Stephanie Birkitt.) Letterman himself admitted to that on "The Late Show" the night Halderman was arrested.

Tuesday's hearing is likely to be a brief one, during which prosecutors and Shargel will go over motions and set dates for future court appearances.

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