Inside CBS, Disbelief at Robert Joel Halderman's Arrest

Inside CBS News, Robert Joel Halderman (pictured right) was a widely liked and well-regarded producer, known for chasing action and taking chances.

But none of his previous experiences covering wars, school killings and the mob gave any hint that Mr. Halderman might himself become the central figure in a crime story that seemed like fodder for his current CBS program, “48 Hours Mystery.”

In interviews, friends and colleagues of Mr. Halderman said they were stunned last week by the news of his arrest in front of CBS News headquarters on charges of trying to blackmail David Letterman for $2 million. The case compelled Mr. Letterman to admit on his television show, “Late Show With David Letterman,” that he had had sex with female staff members.

“I said to my mother that this was like her waking up to find out I’d been arrested for this,” said Marcy McGinnis, Mr. Halderman’s boss for many years in the 1990s as the London bureau chief for CBS.

Stephanie Birkitt, a longtime Letterman staff member, also lived for a time with Mr. Halderman. Ms. Birkitt is on a paid leave of absence, according to a spokesman for Mr. Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants. Mr. Halderman has been suspended with pay by CBS pending legal developments.

CBS, which has kept a firm grip on all comments about the case, denied a report posted Monday on the Web site AmLaw Daily that it was conducting an internal investigation of Mr. Halderman. The network said it had initiated no such investigation on its own and was only cooperating with the authorities who were pursuing the case.

CBS colleagues described Mr. Halderman, known as Joe, as a big personality with a penchant for running to the hottest news spots — the Falkland Islands, Bosnia and Somalia.

“Joe went to every nasty place there was,” Ms. McGinnis said. She recalled him saying after hearing the news of the killing of 16 children at a school in Scotland in 1996: “Just let me grab a bag and I’m there.”

In another sign of how much support Mr. Halderman still commands inside CBS, two of his current co-workers, Andy Soto and Marc Goldbaum, posted the bond for Mr. Halderman’s bail. Neither man would comment Wednesday, but Mr. Halderman’s lawyer, Gerald L. Shargel, confirmed that the men had posted the bond.

Mr. Shargel continued to argue on Wednesday that Mr. Letterman’s behavior and credibility would be relevant issues in the case, repeating, as he has in several media outlets, that Mr. Letterman sexually harassed his staff members. He said that it was valid for him to make what he called “this media blitz” of comments about Mr. Letterman.

“I’m looking to level the playing field,” Mr. Shargel said. He said that the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, “seemed to embrace Letterman’s story” in a news conference last week and made it appear that “this was an open and shut case” against his client. And he said that Mr. Letterman had a national television show on which to make his points.

“All I’m saying is, there is more to the story,” Mr. Shargel said. A spokeswoman said the district attorney’s office would not comment on the remarks.

Asked about the accusation that he seemed to be trying to muddy Mr. Letterman’s reputation, Mr. Shargel said: “This is not a parlor game. My client is facing 15 years in jail. If Letterman gets muddied up, so be it.”

Several legal commentators have said that the defense will have a difficult time getting a judge to admit details of Mr. Letterman’s behavior. Mr. Shargel said that no one from the prosecution had approached him to discuss a plea arrangement.

“We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it,” he said.

A spokesman for Mr. Letterman declined to comment on Mr. Shargel’s remarks.

The bail payments were evidence of another observation several colleagues made about Mr. Halderman: he was in apparent financial trouble, partly because of obligations from a divorce and child-support payments.

One former CBS colleague said that the case was not surprising in that it involved money and sex. “He lived on the edge,” said the colleague, who asked not to be identified because of the limit CBS has imposed on comments about the case. “He had a bit of a checkered love life.”

Some other colleagues said that Mr. Halderman was known to be very confident around women, though Ms. McGinnis, who called him “a flirty guy,” said she had never witnessed anything inappropriate. “I was his boss, of course, but he never put the moves on me.”

Tom Fenton, a former CBS News correspondent who traveled overseas extensively with Mr. Halderman as his producer, said he was “absolutely dumbfounded” by the accusations.

“It’s like he was struck by lightning," said Mr. Fenton.

Neighbors of Mr. Halderman in Norwalk, Conn., where he shared a home with Ms. Birkitt, said they saw him only occasionally.

Kevin Lane, 48, a glazier who lives next door to Mr. Halderman, said a woman he knew as Steph lived with Mr. Halderman for about four of the five years he had the house.

He recalled a dinner that Mr. Halderman cooked for him and Ms. Birkitt last summer, during which she talked about her job on the Letterman show.

“She seemed to like him,” he said of Mr. Letterman. “She liked her job. She said it was fun.”