Kris Ingraham / AP Photo
The Travolta blackmail case has ended in a mistrial after a member of the Bahamas parliament announced publicly that one of the defendants had been cleared while the jury was still deliberating. The judge reluctantly ordered a new trial in "the interest of justice" over concerns that there had been possible "communication" from the jury room, raising the possibility of jury misconduct. Defendants Pleasant Bridgewater and Tarino Lightbourne were on trial for attempting to extort $25 million from John Travolta after his 16-year-old son Jett's death last January. Bridgewater, a former member of the Bahamian Senate, was accused of trying to negotiate the payment for Lightbourne, a paramedic who purportedly threatened to sell stories suggesting that Travolta was to blame for his son's death.