Mary, the only thing I can think of is that Letterman had control over how the "beans" were spilled...who knows what Halderman would have done? He was talking a screenplay AND a book...and even after he got the cheque, was saying on his way out of the meeting that he might still do a movie.

Halderman sounds like he snapped...he had $40,000 credit card debt and $6,000 a month in child support. It was reported that in the first meeting with Letterman and the latter's attorney that he said he 'didn't want to work for the rest of his life'. It seems only an arrest would have stopped him from doing his own version of events.

I think the extortion attempt was far worse than anything Letterman did (for better or worse, just about 'everyone' does it).

Wait for the trial, that will be interesting.