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Halderman Was Considered A Extortionist In David Letterman Scandal And Not Uchitel in Tiger Woods

All the allegations that Tiger Woods mistresses were getting pay offs from Tiger Woods camp yet no mention of the word "extortion". A look at how Tiger Woods situation is different then David Lettermans where Producer Halderman was charged with extortion and is looking at possible time in prison.
Author: Cherie Brenner	Article Tools:

the Brenner Law Firm with twenty years of trial and negotiation experience

Several women came pouring out of the woodwork wanting to tell and sell their sexual relationship with Tiger Woods. From looking at all the gossip magazines, some of these women were pretty successful in selling their story. However, when the story of his sexual promiscuity with the first woman, Rachel Uchitel came to light, she denied it. Of course this was before all the other women stepped forward and started talking about their affairs. Then, Ms. Uchitel hirers celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred who handles and settles high profile cases. Why would Ms. Uchitel need a celebrity lawyer when she didn't have an affair with Tiger Woods? What could the canceled press conference have been about and what was there to settle?

Lisa Bloom, the daughter of Gloria Allred and a CBS legal analyst, stated that she worked with her mother for nine years and the only reason her mother would cancel a press conference was that a deal was struck with the Woods camp. Reading between the lines, one would believe a deal not to speak to the press about the details of her relationship with Woods appears to be a likely conclusion.

In the David Letterman case, Halderman was going to release to the press an affair Letterman had with Halderman's former girlfriend, Stephanie Birkitt. Halderman was arrested on extortion charges of trying to get money from Letterman by threatening to release details of his sexual affairs with "Late Show" female staffers.

So why was Halderman an extortionist and Uchitel was not? Ms. Blooms statement implied at least a million dollars was involved in a settlement in her opinion. Did hush money exchange hands and if so, was this extortion?

Virtually all extortion statutes require that a threat must be made to the person or property of the victim. It is not necessary for a threat to involve physical injury. It may be enough to threaten to expose a secret that would result in public embarrassment or ridicule. The threat does not have to relate to an unlawful act. Extortion may be carried out by a threat to tell the victim's spouse that the victim is having an sexual affair with another. Other types of threats sufficient to constitute extortion include those to harm the victim's business.

Under the common law and many statutes, an intent to take money or property, to which one is not lawfully entitled, must exist at the time of the threat in order to establish extortion. Statutes may contain words such as "willful" or "purposeful" in order to indicate the intent element. Extortion may be classified under different categories of seriousness depending on the degree of wrongful intent.

There are a variety of ways a defense could apply to California extortion law. For example, you may be able to prove that you didn’t threaten the other person, and that there was just a misunderstanding. You thought that the other was simply giving you his/her property, services, etc. based on a mutual agreement.

Or, if you can prove that the person from whom you allegedly extorted property wasn’t placed in actual fear, you can’t be convicted of this offense.

The key difference in the David Letterman case is that Mr. Halderman’s reported behavior was text book extortion. Prosecutors say he "demanded" two million dollars “to stay quiet” about Letterman's sexual behavior with female staffers. Letterman revealed the extortion plot during the taping of his show.

"There's a letter in the package, it says that, 'I know that you do some terrible, terrible things and I can prove you do these terrible things," Letterman said.

In the Tiger Woods incident with Ms. Uchitel, based on news coverage; 1.Uchitel never directly approached Woods. 2. His sexual promiscuities were already exposed by other woman. 3.And, Woods never filed a complaint. These women have a right to talk about their life experiences including relationships. If she was approach by the “Tiger Woods camp“, as the other women could have been, then she didn’t directly threaten anyone. The law is an interesting phenomenon and sometimes may be a little unfair or, maybe not.

About Author

Cherie L. Brenner has been practicing criminal and family law for over twenty years. She has handled over a thousand cases . She has been certified through Harvard Law School's negotiation program and UC-Hastings Law School in trial advocacy. Ms. Brenner has a masters degree in psychology and teaches law at a local university. She is a published author and continues to inform and update the public on the law. Also view http://www.TheBrennerLawFirm.com and http://www.TheBrennerLawFirm.org

Article Source: http://www.1888articles.com/author-cherie-brenner-22751.html

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