The John Travolta extortion case was declared a mistrial by a Bahamian judge, after nearly four weeks of court battles related to his son’s death. Travolta filed for extortion charges against former Bahamian senator Pleasant Bridgewater and paramedic Tarino Lightbourn after the death of his 16-year-old autistic son.
Senior Supreme Court Judge Anita Allen declared a mistrial due to juror misconduct after an announcement from a local politician that Senator Bridgewater, one of the John Travolta extortion case defendants, had been acquitted, before the jury even came back with their verdict. Allen ordered a retrial for the John Travolta extortion case, though there is no timetable yet set.
The actor and his attorneys were upset over the John Travolta mistrial case. Mike Ossi, one of Travolta’s Florida lawyers, said:
“This came out of the clear blue; this was so weird.”
The John Travolta extortion mistrial case was initiated by news of Bridgewater’s so-called acquittal on TV two hours before the foreman told the judge that he and the rest of the jury was having difficulty reaching a verdict.
In court, John Travolta had described the medical condition of his son:
“My son was autistic and he suffered from seizure disorder every five to 10 days. He would suffer a seizure that would last 45 seconds to a minute, and sleep for 12 hours.”
The paramedic Lightbourn claimed to have a medical document that had Travolta’s signature, requesting his son be driven to the airport so he could fly the boy for treatment in Florida rather than go to the local hospital in Freeport. The actor admitted that he did not read the document he signed because:
“Time was of the essence.”
Michael McDermott, another attorney for the actor in the John Travolta extortion misttrial case, said that Lightbourn had kept the original form because it had the signature of the actor. He also added that the paramedic enlisted the help of Bridgewater to sell the signed document, with the senator telling McDermott that the document revealed that:
“Mr. Travolta either intentionally killed his child or was negligent, and that this document is evidence that Mr. Travolta tried to flee the jurisdiction with his child’s dead body.”
McDermott ultimately helped capture the defendants by secretly recording their demands audio and videotape. To prove the validity of the John Travolta extortion case, the tapes revealed that the parties talked about various sums of money that went to as high as $25 million. In the tape, McDermott said to Lightbourn:
“You know what we’re both doing here is a criminal offense.”
To which, Lightbourn gave a compelling “Yes.”
Bridgewater and Lightbourn were charged with conspiring to extort $25 million from Travolta. The John Travolta extortion case, now a mistrial, revolved around the death of John Travolta’s son, Jett Travolta, who had a seizure in the family vacation home in Grand Bahama island.
The John Travolta extortion case was declared a mistrial by a Bahamian judge, after nearly four weeks of court battles related to his son Jett Travolta’s death. Continue Reading
