John McTiernan: Difference between revisions

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "John McTiernan" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

John Campbell McTiernan, Jr. (born January 8, 1951) is an American film director and producer, best known for his action films and most identifiable with the three films he directed back-to-back: Predator, Die Hard, and The Hunt for Red October, along with later movies such as Last Action Hero, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and The Thomas Crown Affair.

McTiernan was born in Albany, New York, and attended the Juilliard School before graduating with an M.F.A. from the AFI Conservatory.

In 1986, he wrote and directed his first feature, Nomads, starring Pierce Brosnan. While not successful, it did land him the job of directing the smash science fiction action film Predator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the wake of that films' success, he followed it up with a string of hits, including Die Hard starring Bruce Willis; The Hunt for Red October with Alec Baldwin and Sean Connery, and Medicine Man, also starring Connery.

In 1993, he helmed Last Action Hero, an action-comedy vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film was rushed into production, and became a victim of its own overblown hype when it opened to mixed reviews and lacklustre box office, however it gained a cult following. In 1995, he rebounded with Die Hard with a Vengeance, the second sequel to Die Hard.

In 1999, he took on the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo, which opened to solid reviews and strong box office; he also directed the troubled production of The 13th Warrior, adapted from the novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton. In 2002, he directed Rollerball, a remake of the 1975 movie starring James Caan, but the film came and went without much fanfare. In 2003, his thriller Basic with John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson had a much more successful run.

On April 3, 2006, McTiernan was charged in federal court with a single count (18 USC § 1001(a)(2)) false statement for misrepresenting the number of times he had hired Anthony Pellicano. This false statement was made to an FBI agent during the agent's initial contact with McTiernan via an evening phone call to McTiernan's home. He was arraigned and pleaded guilty on April 17, 2006, and is the 14th person charged in the Anthony Pellicano case. McTiernan has never been charged with wiretapping.

McTiernan was charged with an information, rather than in grand jury indictment, which means he waived his right to an indictment and suggests he may have reached either a prior plea agreement with prosecutors or some sort of cooperating agreement.^[1]

Some time later, upon retaining new counsel, McTiernan attempted to withdraw his guilty plea because his prior counsel had not offered an available defense.^[2] On September 24, 2007 this bid was denied by Federal District Judge Dale S. Fischer. She then proceeded to sentence McTiernan to four months in prison and $100,000 in fines for lying about his relationship with Pellicano. McTiernan's lawyers had asked for no jail time, arguing that the Department of Justice policy manual stated that no single False Statement charges would be filed against an individual. The prosecution argued that the manual is a guide and the government should not be held to the statements contained in it. The judge sided with the prosecution and characterized McTiernan as someone who "lived a privileged life and simply wants to continue that." He was ordered to surrender for incarceration by January 15, 2008. His lawyers stated thereafter he planned to appeal this conviction.^[3] Fischer allowed McTiernan to remain out of prison on bail pending his appeal of her decision to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.^[4]

In October 2008, a federal appeals court vacated McTiernan's four-month sentence and ruled that Judge Fischer had erred and he was entitled to a hearing as to whether his plea could be withdrawn given that prior counsel did not state with sufficient clarity that he had offered McTiernan a defense. The prosecution agreed for McTiernan to withdraw his plea rather than proceed with a hearing and Judge Fischer allowed McTiernan to do so on February 24, 2009. The case remained open, with prosecutors intending to proceed a second time against McTiernan on the same charge.^[5]

In December of 2008 and with subsequent updates in 2009, McTiernan released a video entitled "The Political Prosecutions of Karl Rove", which was posted on YouTube^[6] and the PoliticalProsecutions.org website.^[7] The video exposed prosecutorial misconduct in numerous cases throughout the country believed to be politically motivated and cast a shadow on the U.S. Attorney's Office. Shortly thereafter, the Government quadrupled the charges against McTiernan.

First and Second Superseding Indictments were filed against McTiernan. He was charged with two counts of a False Statement (18 USC § 1001 (a)(2)) and one count of False Statements before a Court (18 USC § 1623). The charge of Possession of a False Paper to Defraud the U.S. appears to have been dropped and was related to McTiernan's having a written Declaration in support of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea.^[8]

According to McTiernan's attorney, former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz, the overzealous prosecutors filed two charges against McTiernan for the same utterance to the unverified FBI agent, and a third charge for perjury since he had asked to withdraw his guilty plea. During pre-trial hearings Judge Dale S. Fischer ruled that it is irrelevant that one does not know to whom they are speaking in order to be charged with a felony. McTiernan would not be allowed to present evidence that the phone call to his home, after hours, with an unverified agent was in direct opposition to FBI Manual of Investigative Operations and Guidelines (MIOG).^[9] Nor would Fischer allow an expert witness, a former FBI agent, to testify on behalf of McTiernan. The defense stated that a citizen should not be charged with lying to someone if one cannot verify their identity. McTiernan's defense was to include the FBI guideline which stated that "Credentials (commission cards) shall be exhibited to all persons interviewed by Special Agents so there will be no doubt concerning the organization with which they are connected."^[9]

Due to court rulings that would not allow a defense and an exposure of a 15-year sentence, McTiernan, upon insistence of counsel, entered a conditional guilty plea in order to get back to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Fischer sentenced McTiernan to one year in prison though no additional criminal activity was indicated since his plea was allowed to be withdrawn. Diaz stated "his client was forced to plead guilty to what most people do not even know is a crime" and is a "victim of prosecutorial vindictiveness". McTiernan is free on bail pending appeal. Diaz is confident his client will prevail.^[10]

On August 20, 2012, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied McTiernan's appeal, though he was granted the opportunity address a higher court and reappeal. McTiernan and his attorney were confident that they will not be denied when they did so.^[11] However, on January 14, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear McTiernan's case.^[12]

During the appellate process, McTiernan had access to the Government's key witness who signed a statement that no wiretap was done on behalf of John McTiernan and that she had never seen the evidence the Government claimed were synopses of wiretapped calls of Charles Roven. This witness also testified during the 2008 trial of Anthony Pellicano, that Charles Roven's company, Atlas, was a Pellicano client. On May 23, 2012 McTiernan's lawyers filed a motion to vacate the sentence as the sentence was based on false evidence.^[13]

On February 8, 2013, a supplement to the motion to vacate was filed that pointed out questionable prosecutorial practices. Requests by McTiernan's counsel for discovery were ignored by the Government. Days before the trial was to begin, and the subsequent conditional guilty plea entered, the Government turned over the proof of evidence against McTiernan. McTiernan's computer expert determined that contrary to the Government's representation, the data was encrypted and "recovery of any content would be impossible and verification of the content would also be impossible."^[13]

The source of evidence against McTiernan has never been provided by the Government. At present, the matter is before the Court who wants only to know why McTiernan should be allowed to raise these issues now. McTiernan is scheduled to surrender to federal prison on April 3, prior to Judge Fischer's review of the motions.

In early 2013, fans of the filmmaker created a Facebook group to protest against his conviction, deeming it abusive.

On July 3, 2006, McTiernan's former wife, film producer Donna Dubrow, filed suit against him for invasion of privacy and other claims arising from her belief that he hired Pellicano to wiretap her telephone. Judge Dale S. Fischer refused to give any credence to the claim when it was mentioned by the prosecution during McTiernan's hearing.^[14]

• John McTiernan at IMDb
• John McTiernan Movies
• "Filmmaker Says He Lied in FBI Probe" The Los Angeles Times, April 18, 2006.
• "Links Between Pellicano, Director Come Into Focus" The Los Angeles Times, April 5, 2006.
• "Pellicano Inquiry Expands to Snare Director of 'Predator'" The Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2006.
• "Film Director Accused of Lying to FBI in Pellicano Scandal" The LA Weekly, April 3, 2006.

Template:Persondata