Halderman — who pled guilty to attempted grand larceny back in March — just appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court in handcuffs.

Halderman will also have to serve 1000 hours of community service and will be on probation for five years.
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The CBS News producer who tried to blackmail funnyman David Letterman for $2 million barely said a peep Tuesday as he was sentenced to six months in the slammer.

“No sir,” Robert (Joe) Halderman said when the judge asked him if he had anything to say.

Then, after signing an order of protection forbidding him from any contact with Letterman until 2018, Halderman thanked his lawyers and was led out of the Manhattan Supreme Court in handcuffs.

To wile away the months, Halderman brought along a Bible and a thriller by Stieg Larsson called “The Girl Who Played With Fire.”

“He’s been to every hot spot in the world, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia,” said defense attorney Gerald Shargel. “I think he can handle Rikers Island.”

Letterman, 62, was not there to witness Halderman’s exit, but he doesn’t have to fret about the producer spilling dirt about him after he gets out of jail.

Under the plea deal, Halderman was spared from serving up to 15 years in prison in return for deep-sixing his lurid tales about the late-night host’s office romances.

The carefully crafted nine-page agreement blocked the 52-year-old Halderman from going public with any information he gleaned about Letterman.

That includes diary entries made by ex-girlfriend Stephanie Birkitt about her affair with the married Letterman, along with any e-mails, audio recordings or instant messages.

If Halderman utters a peep about any of that, his six month stint could become a seven year ordeal behind bars.

At an earlier court appearance, Halderman admitted handing Letterman’s driver with an envelope marked “Privileged and Confidential” on Sept. 9, 2009.

Inside, was a “screenplay” based on Letterman’s sexual shenanigans with “Late Show” staffers.

One of Letterman’s conquests was Halderman’s ex-lover, Stephanie Birkitt.

Instead of caving into Halderman’s demands, Letterman took the packagage to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. But he also was forced to reveal his dalliances during a “Late Show” taping hours after he appeared before a grand jury.

As part of his sentence, Halderman will also be on probation for 4 1/2 years and perform 1,000 hours of community service – 500 with the homeless and 500 with ex-cons

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David Letterman’s accused extortionist, Robert Halderman, is asking the judge to dismiss the extortion case against him.

In papers filed with the court, Halderman’s lawyer wrote, “The sensationalism surrounding this indictment, fueled by the celebrity of the purported victim and the deference paid to that celebrity by the District Attorney’s Office, has swallowed the only pertinent issue ….”

The issue: Whether the grand jury had sufficient facts to support the extortion case.

The lawyer, Gerald Shargel, also states Halderman “discovered evidence that Letterman had created and fostered an environment of workplace sexual misconduct that under any definition, amounted to actionable sexual harassment.”

The lawyer says this was not extortion, calling it “a pure commercial transaction.” The lawyer says Halderman was merely trying to sell the exclusive screenplay rights to Letterman.

The lawyer says Halderman even insisted on getting a written agreement — something extortionists generally don’t do.

In addition to the motion for dismissal, Halderman’s lawyer is asking to inspect the grand jury minutes. And, he wants the items seized from Halderman to be suppressed as evidence.

And there this … Attorney Shargel claims the relationship between Letterman and Stephanie Birkitt continued through at least last summer.

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