Travolta Dissatisfied at the Court Decision

  The trial of two people accused of trying to blackmail John Travolta  ended in a mistrial Wednesday after a lawmaker suggested the still-deliberating jury had acquitted one of the defendants.

Photo: Travolta Dissatisfied at the Court Decision

  Senior Justice Anita Allen said she was reluctantly ordering a new trial "in the interest of justice" because the politician's statement, in a speech broadcast on television and radio, gave the appearance of an improper leak from the jury room.

  Ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne and his attorney, politician Pleasant Bridgewater, were accused of threatening to release private information about the January death of Travolta's 16-year-old son Jett at the family vacation home in Grand Bahama.

  Lightbourne, who was among the medics who treated Jett, allegedly sought $25 million from the actor with the assistance of Bridgewater, who resigned her seat in the Bahamas Senate after she was charged in the case.

      The jury, which deliberated about nine hours, had spent a month listening to testimony including from Travolta, who flew to the Bahamas to take the stand. He is accompanied by two lawyers.

   In closing statements, lawyers for the defendants, who denied the allegations told the nine-member jury that their clients were set up by lawyers for Travolta. They also said authorities misinterpreted their actions.

  The alleged plot centered 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 deadly seizure at a family vacation home on Grand Bahama island on Jan. 2.

  Travolta said he signed the waiver because he initially wanted his autistic son flown directly 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.

 A new trial date was not set, according to the Associated Press' report.