The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied the request of John McTiernan, director of “Die Hard” and “Predator” to reverse his guilty plea of making false statements to the FBI.
In 2010, McTiernan pled guilty to lying to federal investigators about an illegal wiretapping operation carried out by private investigator Anthony Pellicano. Federal investigators questioned McTiernan in 2006 to ask whether he had any knowledge of Pellicano’s wiretapping. The director denied knowledge. However, the FBI had obtained a phone recording between McTiernan and Pellicano which indicated that McTiernan was aware of the wiretapping operation.
McTiernan pled guilty to lying to the FBI in 2006, then later won a Ninth Circuit remand of his plea in order to determine if the recording evidence was usable in court.
In 2007, a U.S. District judge found that the evidence was usable in court because McTiernan could not demonstrate that the recording was part of Pellicano’s wiretapping scheme and not a way to keep track of his clients. McTiernan was sentenced to one year in prison and was given a $100,000 fine.
According to the Ninth Circuit, the recording was part of a recorded “to-do” list for clients, and therefore was not a part of the actual execution of an illegal wiretap.
The court also rejected McTiernan’s arguments that the judge on the case had a “deep-seated animus” toward him and should have been recused. The court noted that the judge had given McTiernan a below-the-guidelines sentence, which was indicative of the judge’s judicial restraint.