Joe Halderman, the CBS News producer accused of attempting to extort $2 million from CBS Late Show star David Letterman, will be headed to a Manhattan court on Tuesday morning for the first hearing in the criminal case against him. 
 
 Will Mr. Halderman, as it is widely assumed, try and reach a hasty plea agreement with prosecutors, beginning with Tuesday's motions hearing? 
 
 That's unlikely, according to a source close to Mr. Halderman. 
 
 Over the weekend, Dr. Bob Arnot, a friend and former colleague of Mr. Halderman, told The Observer that Mr. Halderman is currently planning to try and take the case all the way to trial. In a recent interview with Newsday's Verne Gay, Mr. Halderman's attorney Gerald Shargel likewise suggested that no plea agreement is in the works. 
 
 That's something of a surprise to those who have closely followed the case. 
 
 >>READ FELIX GILLETTE'S BACKSTORY ON THE LETTERMAN LOVE TRIANGLE 
 
 Ever since Mr. Halderman's initial October 1 arrest on charges of attempted grand larceny, it's been widely assumed that the troubled 48 Hours Mystery producer would quickly try to reach a plea agreement with prosecutors. 
 
 Those assumptions were based in part on widespread reports of Mr. Halderman's financial problems. Mr. Halderman was making roughly $214,000-a-year from CBS at the time of his arrest and owed roughly $6,000 a month in child-support payments to his ex-wife, while also holding a series of hefty mortgages. 
 
 How would Mr. Halderman pay for a lengthy defense? Would he want to? 
 
 Under such circumstances, a quick plea bargain would seem to be an attractive possibility. Similarly, the victim of the alleged extortion, David Letterman, would presumably love to avoid the massive amounts of attention that would come with a criminal trial. 
 
 But he may be out of luck. 
 
 Over the weekend, Mr. Arnot told The Observer that Mr. Halderman has already raised $100,000 for his defense, and is planning to meet with friends and advisers in the coming weeks to discuss other fund-raising possibilities. 
 
 "This lawyer is a real litigator," Mr. Arnot wrote via email, "and Joe is paying the full boat to go to trial." 
 
 More from Felix Gillette: 
 
 Letterman's Bizarre Late Night Love Triangle 
 
 Halderman Is a Guy's Guy, Sort of Like Vince Vaughn ||||| Letterman Extortion Suspect Uses Tiger Woods Scandal To Bolster His Defense 
 
 Email This The man charged with trying to extort $2 million from The man charged with trying to extort $2 million from David Letterman in exchange for not peddling a screenplay based on the Late Show host's backstage affairs with staffers has offered up a new point of defense -- the alleged hush money Tiger Woods gave to reported mistress Rachel Uchitel. In court papers filed Tuesday, Robert Halderman 's lawyer cited published reports that Woods paid an alleged mistress millions of dollars to stay silent. Attorney Gerald Shargel suggested that since the woman hasn't been charged with a crime, Halderman shouldn't be, either. 
 
 "Evidence of celebrity misdeeds has a significant fair market value," lawyer Gerald Shargel wrote. "... Evidence of such misdeeds is routinely suppressed through private business arrangement."Halderman has pleaded not guilty to attempted grand larceny in a case that shoved Letterman's love life into public view. The 'Late Show' host stunned viewers in October by abruptly revealing the extortion case and acknowledging he had had affairs with women on his staff.Authorities say Halderman demanded $2 million as hush money, threatening to reveal information he'd gleaned from reading in his then-girlfriend's diary that she had had trysts with Letterman, her boss. Halderman's threat was couched as an outline of a thinly veiled screenplay about the comic's life unraveling with the disclosure of his dalliances, prosecutors say.Shargel says Halderman just offered to sell his "very marketable story" to Letterman - and to keep it confidential as part of the deal.Prosecutors declined to comment on Halderman's attempt to draw a parallel to the scandal surrounding Woods. The golfer has acknowledged infidelities, without giving specifics, and has not said he paid anyone to keep quiet.But Letterman's lawyer weighed in, calling the producer's latest argument a bid to shift attention from his own conduct."This was not a sale of anything legitimate, this was classic extortion," Letterman lawyer Daniel J. Horwitz said in a statement.Halderman, 52, is a producer for CBS' "48 Hours Mystery." If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison.
– The man accused of trying to blackmail David Letterman has raised $100,000 for his defense fund ahead of tomorrow’s first hearing in the case, and some experts think Robert “Joe” Halderman won’t accept a plea bargain despite his reported money woes. “This lawyer is a real litigator,” a Halderman friend tells the New York Observer of Gerald Shargel, “and Joe is paying the full boat to go to trial.” Adds an NBC analyst: “Don’t expect any grand revelations, but based on the way Shargel has behaved already, I would not be surprised to hear some theatrics from the defense.”