John Travolta’s Retrial Extortion Case Dropped

John Travolta retrial extortion case dropped

A retrial of the case of two men who allegedly tried to extort millions from actor John Travolta has been stopped before it was about to start in the Bahamas on Monday.

The prosecutor filed for “nolle prosequi”, a request for the trial to be halted, according to the Bahamian attorney general's office.

A mistrial was declared by the court last year following a premature announcement of an acquittal was made while the jury was still deliberating.

The actor requested for the trial not to proceed, citing the  emotional distress the trial has caused his family.

“The long pending status of this matter continued to take a heavy emotional toll on my family causing us to conclude that it was finally time to put this matter behind us,” Travolta said in a statement. “Therefore, after much reflection I concluded that it was in my family's best interest for me not to voluntarily return to the Bahamas to testify a second time at trial.”

The two men were charged with attempting to extort money from the actor after his son died on January 2, 2009.

The money was said to be for a document which Travolta signed not to be released in public. The document was reported to prove that Travolta declined to have his son brought to the hospital. Paramedic Lightbourn, one of the defendants, asked the actor during the ambulance trip to sign a document releasing the hospital from any liability because of Travolta's wishes.

Travolta, who is a licensed pilot, said he signed the statement because he wanted to fly his son to a Florida hospital himself.

Posted by Kade Quinn on Tuesday September 07 2010, 10:49 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Entertainment, Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0