Die Hard Director Makes Bail

Mon., Dec. 10, 2007 3:16 PM PST by Josh Grossberg

Like his big-screen hero John McClane, John McTiernan doesn't like being stuck in a building for very long. And for now, he won't be.

A federal judge in Los Angeles has allowed the Die Hard director to remain free on bail while he appeals his guilty plea.

In April 2006, McTiernan, 56, copped to lying to the feds about his knowledge of Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano's illicit wiretapping operation.

McTiernan then tried to rescind the guilty plea for a bevy reasons: (1) he had been jetlagged at the time he was questioned by agents; (2) he was also suffering the side effects of some apparently potent sinus medication during the same Q&A session; and (3) he received some bad advice from his ex-lawyer.

U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer wasn't buying it. Not only did the judge deny the motion, but, in McTiernan's most scathing reviews since Last Action Hero, Fischer ripped McTiernan for his lack of remorse for attempting to deceive investigators.

Fischer sentenced McTiernan to four months in prison in September and ordered him to pay a $100,000 fine.

"When he was sentenced, he made a motion to remain free on bond while the appeal is litigated. The judge granted that motion today," Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, told E! Online.

As a result, McTiernan will not have to report to jail to begin his sentence on Jan. 15, as previously required. Instead, he was granted a $50,000 bond until the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rules on his petition to withdraw his plea.

McTiernan helmed some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters in the 1980s and '90s. Aside from Die Hard and Die Hard with a Vengence, his credits include Predator, The Hunt for Red October and the 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair.

Should the appeal flame out, McTiernan would be the highest profile figure to face legal comeuppance from the Pellicano affair.

The so-called Private Eye to the Stars, Pellicano is awaiting trial on a 110-count indictment accusing him of racketeering and wire-fraud charges for allegedly gaining unauthorized access to law enforcement databases to dig up criminal histories and driving records of various individuals.

Authorities also claim the gumshoe led a conspiracy to record the phone conversations of such stars as Sylvester Stallone, Garry Shandling and Keith Carradine, among other Hollywood players, to give his clients a "tactical advatange" in their various court battles.