Mistrial in Travolta extortion case

A JUDGE has ordered a mistrial in the case of an alleged extortion attempt against John Travolta.

Senior Justice Anita Allen said she was reluctantly ordering a new trial because a politician announced that one of the defendants would be freed, giving the appearance of an improper leak from the jury room.

Bahamas chief magistrate Roger Gomez said that the new trial is not likely to start until early 2010.

Ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne and his attorney, politician Pleasant Bridgewater, were accused of demanding $25 million from Travolta to keep them from releasing private information about the death of Travolta’s 16-year-old son Jett in Grand Bahama on January 2. They denied the allegations.

Jurors were still deliberating when lawmaker Picewell Forbes announced to a Progressive Liberal Party convention that party member Bridgewater would be cleared. “Pleasant is a free woman, PLPs,!!!” Forbes said.

Soon after, the party’s deputy chairman-elect, said the information was incorrect. He apologised on behalf of the party.

But the judge said that Forbes’ comment gave her no choice but to dismiss the jurors, who had deliberated about nine hours.

The alleged plot centred on a document that would have released emergency responders from liability if the family refused an ambulance ride to the hospital for Jett, who suffered a seizure.

Travolta said he signed the waiver because he initially wanted his autistic son flown to Florida for treatment. But he later changed his mind, and the document did not come into play.

The actor testified that Lightbourne threatened to sell stories to the media suggesting that he was at fault in his son’s death.