12:16 PM EDT 10/23/2009
John Travolta
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John Travolta Has 'A Heavy Heart' Over Son's Death
Originally posted 10/22/2009 02:50PM
A mistrial was not the result John Travolta expected when it came to the alleged extortion plot surrounding the death of his son Jett.
"He was upset as he wanted closure," says his attorney Mike Ossi, who informed the actor of the Bahamian court decision late Wednesday. "The family wants to privately begin the long and difficult healing process – as well as to properly honor Jett's memory – without the cloud of this litigation over their heads. But he said he is committed to cooperating with authorities so justice can be served."
Those close to Travolta, 55, say that although the trial was difficult for him and his wife, Kelly Preston, it's the loss of Jett that remains immeasurable.
Permalink | Filed Under: John Travolta
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Mistrial Declared in John Travolta Extortion Case
Originally posted 10/22/2009 07:00AM
After nearly four weeks in a courtroom, a Bahamian judge declared a surprise mistrial late Wednesday in the John Travolta extortion trial, leaving the actor and his attorneys mystified and upset.
Senior Supreme Court Judge Anita Allen declared a mistrial because of juror misconduct following an announcement from a local politician that one of the defendants had been acquitted – before the jurors came back with their verdict. Allen ordered a retrial, but did it remains unclear when, if ever, the case will be retried.
"This came out of the clear blue; this was so weird," Mike Ossi, one of Travolta’s Florida lawyers told PEOPLE.
Permalink | Filed Under: Blackmail, Crime & Courts, John Travolta
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Travolta Jurors See Videotape of Alleged Blackmail Attempt
Originally posted 10/05/2009 05:35PM
For more than a week, jurors in the John Travolta extortion trial have been hearing about secretly-taped videos allegedly showing the defendants negotiating a multimillion-dollar payout. On Monday, they finally got to see the footage.
"You know what were both doing here, okay," Travolta's lawyer Michael McDermott says in a meeting with one of the defendants, paramedic Tarino Lightbourn, as the other defendant, Lightbourn's lawyer, Pleasant Bridgewater, listens in via speakerphone.
Permalink | Filed Under: John Travolta
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John Travolta's Lawyer Testifies on Details of Alleged Extortion
Originally posted 10/01/2009 12:00PM
A day after John Travolta testified about the first phone call he received in the alleged extortion attempt regarding the death of his son Jett, an attorney for the star took the stand Thursday to explain how he was first notified of the plot.
Permalink | Filed Under: John Travolta
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John Travolta Cross-Examined in Extortion Case
Originally posted 09/30/2009 12:00PM
A subdued John Travolta returned to the stand Wednesday in the ongoing trial in the Bahamas involving an alleged extortion plot following the January death of his 16-year-old son Jett.
Dressed in a charcoal gray suit and accompanied by wife Kelly Preston, the actor, 55, entered a Nassau courtroom in the morning to continue testimony in the case, in which prosecutors have accused former Bahamian Sen. Pleasant Bridgewater and paramedic Tarino Lightbourn of plotting to extort $25 million from Travolta in return for not making public a document relating to Jett's treatment. The pair have pleaded not guilty.
v During direct examination, Travolta testified that he had first heard about the alleged extortion attempt from Ronald Zupancic, a friend and employee of the actor. "[Zupancic] was upset. He said that there was a threat and a demand of money that Mr. McDermott, my attorney, had alerted him to with a release paper that I had signed in the Bahamas," said Travolta.
Permalink | Filed Under: Crime & Courts, John Travolta
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Key Evidence Destroyed in Travolta Case?
Originally posted 09/28/2009 09:10AM
On Jan. 19, Pleasant Bridgewater, who had been a Bahamian senator and well-respected member of the Progressive Liberal Party at the time, met with John Travolta's attorney to iron out payment for a document regarding medical treatment for the actor's son on the day he died.
Three days later, Bridgewater was under arrest for extortion and, according to a police report, admitted to the Bahamian authorities that she had destroyed a copy of the document in question – a "Refusal of Treatment/Transportation" form her client, paramedic Tarino Lightbourn, had insisted Travolta sign when he sought to have his son taken to an airstrip rather than a hospital on Jan. 2.
What happened to the original – a key piece of evidence in the case of the two people who allegedly attempted to extort $25 million from Travolta shortly after his son's death – is the latest revelation in the case unearthed exclusively by PEOPLE. The trial is now underway in the Bahamas. Travolta himself has already testified in court, recounting how he raced to save Jett, 16, last January.
Permalink | Filed Under: Crime & Courts, John Travolta
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Explosive Evidence from the Travolta Extortion Trial
Originally posted 09/25/2009 09:55AM
Is it the smoking gun?
The trial of two defendants accused of trying to exort $25 million from John Travolta in return for handing over a document relating to the death of the star's 16-year-old son, Jett, continues in the Bahamas today.
Meanwhile, PEOPLE has watched videotape of conversations recorded by the Royal Bahamas Police between Travolta's attorney and the two defendants – paramedic Tarino Lightbourn and his lawyer, Pleasant Bridgewater, a former Bahamian senator – that appear to be an attempt to secure a multi-million payment from Travolta for the return of a form the star signed when considering whether to have his son be taken to an airport rather than to the nearest hospital.
Permalink | Filed Under: John Travolta
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John Travolta Testifies About Son's Death
Originally posted 09/23/2009 04:55PM
In calm testimony Wednesday, John Travolta described in Bahamian court how he helped a nanny perform CPR on his 16-year-old son Jett, who died earlier this year.
"Jeff [Kathrein], the other nanny, was doing some compressions. I was doing the breathing," said the actor, whose son was in the downstairs bedroom of their condo in Old Bahamas Bay.
In the extortion trial that started this week, the prosecution alleges that paramedic Tarino Lightbourn – one of the first people to arrive on the scene last Jan. 2 when Jett Travolta died after suffering a seizure at his family's house – and his attorney, former Bahamian Sen. Pleasant Bridgewater, conspired to extort $25 million from Travolta in return for not making public a document relating to Jett's treatment. The pair have pleaded not guilty.
Permalink | Filed Under: Crime & Courts, John Travolta
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Emotional Stakes High for John Travolta at Extortion Trial
Originally posted 09/22/2009 02:00PM
As a court in the Bahamas convened Tuesday morning in the extortion case involving the January death of John Travolta and wife Kelly Preston's 16-year-old son, Jett, the grieving father had to summon all his strength to attend.
A friend of the actor's tells PEOPLE that Travolta, 55, "had to dig deep" in order to return to the Bahamas and testify. "Going back was hard for him," says the friend. "The memories were too painful."
Still, says the friend, some good is expected to come out of the court proceedings. Referring to Travolta and Preston, the friend said, "This is something that has been hanging over their heads, so going and dealing with this matter will help them move on. This is going to be closure for them."
Permalink | Filed Under: John Travolta
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John Travolta in Bahamas for Extortion Trial
Originally posted 09/21/2009 07:00PM
John Travolta has traveled to the Bahamas and is prepared to be the first witness Tuesday in an extortion case linked to his 16-year-old son's death, a source tells PEOPLE.
The actor is staying at an exclusive gated community west of Nassau, the source says. This is believed to be Travolta's first visit to the Bahamas since Jett Travolta died last January after suffering a seizure at the actor's vacation home on the island of Grand Bahama.
Permalink | Filed Under: Crime & Courts, John Travolta
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