Posted Oct 22nd 2009 12:25AM by TMZ Staff
The judge in the John Travolta extortion case has declared a mistrial, reportedly because of jury misconduct.
Justice Anita Allen released the jury and declared a mistrial after learning that a member of Parliament announced at a political convention that defendant Pleasant Bridgewater -- a former Senator -- had been acquitted by the jury.
It's unclear if jurors had actually reached a verdict. There's an unconfirmed report that one of the jurors may have communicated information to the Parliament member who spoke out.
No word on whether the jury may have reached a verdict on Tarino Lightbourne.
Story developing ...
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, John Travolta
Tags: extortion, jett travolta, JettTravolta, john travolta, JohnTravolta, judge, mistrial, parliament, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater, Tarino Lightbourn, TarinoLightbourn
Posted Oct 5th 2009 3:15PM by TMZ Staff
Transcripts of taped conversations between alleged extortionist Pleasant Bridgewater and John Travolta's attorney, Michael McDermott, have just been released ... and it feels like Howie Mandell could step in at any time and say, "Deal, No Deal?"
The documents show Bridgewater -- attorney for defendant Tarino Lightbourne -- haggling with McDermott over how much the Travoltas should pay for the "Refusal of Treatment" document ... at one point, McDermott offers property instead of cash, complaining how hard it would be to raise $25 million in cash.
Bridgewater says Lightbourne believed the doc was worth hundreds of millions of dollars ... but was willing to accept $25 million. McDermott countered with an offer of only $250,000 ... saying the Travoltas could go as high as $1 million if Lightbourne would accept property.
At one point McDermott, recognizing the absurdity of the negotiations, says, "We can do a little rug merchant negotiations here." At another point he complains Tarino's demands of $25 million require Travolta to come up with "like a pickup truck full of money."
Click here to read the full transcript.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, John Travolta
Tags: john travolta, JohnTravolta, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater, tapes, tarino lightbourn, TarinoLightbourn, transcripts
