Judge Won't Toss Letterman Case

(CBS/AP)  Updated 3:45 p.m. EDT

A New York judge has turned down a TV producer's request to toss out a criminal case accusing him of blackmailing David Letterman over the comic's love life.

Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon ruled Tuesday on Robert "Joe" Halderman's bid to get the attempted grand larceny case dismissed.

Daniel J. Horwitz, attorney for Letterman, praised the judge's decision in a statement, saying, "This decision strongly indicates that the focus of this case will be the facts of what Mr. Halderman did and what he said - facts that amount to classic extortion and facts that the Judge credited in denying Mr. Halderman's legal arguments."

Prosecutors say Halderman demanded $2 million to keep quiet about the "Late Show" host's affairs with staffers. Halderman says he just offered Letterman a chance to buy - and keep private - a thinly-veiled screenplay about his life.

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The case spurred the late-night icon to tell viewers in October that he had slept with women who worked for him.

The 52-year-old Halderman could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors in December released transcripts of what they say are secretly-recorded tapes of conversations between lawyers for Letterman and Halderman.

The transcripts have Halderman voicing fears Letterman would go to great extremes to get revenge.

Prosecutors contend Halderman threatened to go public with word of affairs Letterman had had with staffers of his show if the late-night host didn't give Halderman the money. Halderman insists he was just shopping around a screenplay about Letterman's life.

His attorneys has told CBS News several times that Halderman was trying to negotiate a business deal, on the on the right side of law.
On Oct. 1, Letterman made the shocking revelation on "Late Night with David Letterman" that he'd had sex with staffers, and that he was the target of the extortion plot.

Days earlier, say authorities, conversations took place at a New York City hotel between two Letterman lawyers and Halderman, who didn't know the attorneys were wired.

"I'm not sure how crazy this guy is, or um, how dangerous he might be," Halderman said of Letterman. "...Should I be fired, mysteriously...if my house burns down...any number of things that... I have no idea who or what he is or is capable of."

Halderman also warned he was going to keep copies of everything he had on Letterman, for protection, saying, "The only way to be sure that I never talk to anybody is for somebody to kill me. Well, you know, I don't want that to happen."

Prosecutors insist the tapes prove Halderman was up to no good.
Prosecutors say Halderman acted in part of out jealousy, after learning one of the woman Letterman had had sex with was Halderman's former live-in girlfriend.

And, papers filed by the prosecution say Halderman had another motive: His ex-wife had just moved with their son to California, and the $2 million would enable him to visit the boy.