Jett Travolta....John Travolta's son, Dies

[gwen]

Fireworks erupt in Bridgewater trial

BY JUAN MCCARTNEY ~ Guardian Senior Reporter ~ juan@nasguard.com:

Senior Justice Anita Allen left her courtroom in the middle of the attempted extortion trial of former Senator Pleasant Bridgewater after a defense attorney's cross-examination of a prosecution witness escalated into a shouting match yesterday.

As the shouting in the courtroom increased, Justice Allen stopped the proceedings, said "I can't take it anymore," and excused herself.

As Bridgewater's attorney, Murio Ducille, cross-examined Michael McDermott — an attorney for American actor John Travolta — the men openly exchanged verbal barbs, even as Justice Allen repeatedly warned them to conduct themselves in a more appropriate manner.

"We are in a court of law; not a theater," said Justice Allen as the nine-member jury looked on. "This is a serious place. We are dealing with serious issues."

Before the judge left, Ducille accused Justice Allen of "attempting to muzzle" him when she directed him to move on from a particular line of questioning.

Justice Allen demanded that Ducille withdraw the comment when she returned to court.

"It is very unfair for you to say that I am muzzling you, Mr. Ducille," Justice Allen said.

Ducille apologized and withdrew the comment.

Earlier in the afternoon, the cross-examination got off to a rocky start when McDermott insisted that Ducille pronounce his name properly.

"It's McDermott not MacDermott," he said from the witness stand. "The way you're saying it is Scottish; I'm Irish."

The cross examination grew more contentious as it continued.

Ducille accused McDermott of being deceitful in his assertion that on January 12 Bridgewater demanded that Travolta pay her client — ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne, who is also on trial — an unspecified sum of money in order to turn over a document she said could implicate the actor in the death of his 16-year-old son, Jett Travolta, on Grand Bahama on January 2.

Ducille contended that McDermott orchestrated the entire series of events in order to purchase Lightbourne's silence.

Ducille repeatedly asked McDermott who initiated the January 12 telephone conversation, after he testified that Bridgewater had said that she was the one calling him during the course of the conversation.

McDermott said he placed the call to West End and Bimini MP Obie Wilchcombe, who then handed the phone to Bridgewater.

"Then why would she say that she was calling you?" asked Ducille, raising his voice.

"I don't know," McDermott replied loudly. "Maybe it was her first extortion because that's what she said."

Ducille told McDermott, "You are being defensive [and] I am suggesting that you are an untruthful witness, a witness on who reliance cannot be placed."

"The truth does not need to be defended," McDermott fired back.

Ducille also repeatedly asked McDermott if he had included certain information in his statement to police, to which McDermott said that he would need to see the statement.

"If you would be so courteous as to give me my statement, then I could tell you what it says," McDermott replied.

Both Ducille and McDermott drew sharp reprimands from Justice Allen for attempting to direct her.

McDermott's reprimand came after his insistence to Justice Allen that Ducille was not following proper procedure in his questioning of him in regards to his statement to police.

"Take off your lawyer hat," Justice Allen told McDermott. "You are a witness."

The judge paused and stared at Ducille after he flatly told her that he was going to continue to question McDermott about evidence in a videotape of a meeting he (McDermott) said he had with Bridgewater.

"I am in charge of this court, Mr. Ducille," she said, reminding him that he knows the rules of the court.

Even Lightbourne's attorney, Carlson Shurland, got involved at one point, rising to his feet to express his dissatisfaction with McDermott's demeanor.

"Mr. Witness, you do not give directions in this court," said Shurland, addressing McDermott.

When Justice Allen ended the day's proceedings, she directed McDermott to return today.

As McDermott walked past Ducille as he was leaving the bar, he told Ducille: "You have a nice night, Mr. Ducille."

Ducille replied: "You have a nice night too then."

Proceedings resume at 10 a.m.

October 2, 2009

http://www.thenassauguardian.com/nation ... 218026.php

[gwen]

John Travolta’s Attorney Accused Of Hatching Extortion Plot

The temperature was hot and tempers were frayed Tuesday in the John Travolta Extortion Trial in the Bahamas.

Two defendants, Pleasant Bridgewater and Tarino Lightbourne, stand accused of trying to extort $25million from John Travolta following his son Jett’s death on the Island back in January.

During cross examination Bridgewater’s attorney Murrio Ducille accused Travolta’s attorney and close friend, Michael McDermott, of being the person that actually hatched the extortion plot. An accusation that McDermott hotly denied.

Things got so heated at one point that the judge had to step in and warn both men several times about making comments.

In true Hollywood style, when accused of the being the person that gave birth to the extortion plot, McDermott burst out with the line, “You can’t handle the truth! You can’t handle the truth!” Prompting Ducille to retort, “You’ve watched a few good men, eh?”

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2 ... rtion-plot

[gwen]

Travolta lawyer accused of deceit

BY JUAN MCCARTNEY ~ Guardian Senior Reporter ~ juan@nasguard.com:

Theatrics once again briefly took over the attempted extortion trial of former PLP Senator Pleasant Bridgewater and ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne yesterday.

American attorney Michael McDermott yelled out, "you can't handle the truth" from the witness stand as defense attorney Murrio Ducille accused him of seeking to "give birth to an extortion" when he came to The Bahamas earlier this year.

Senior Justice Anita Allen had to again step in and remind both men to "lower the temperature," echoing a warning that she gave them last week.

"I suggest that you can't handle the truth. You can't handle the truth and you don't want it," said McDermott, who is the Florida-based special counsel for actor John Travolta.

"So you've seen 'A Few Good Men', huh?" Ducille shot back as he laughed, suggesting that McDermott was channeling actor Jack Nicholson's character from the popular 1990s courtroom drama.

McDermott was responding to Ducille's suggestion that "from the very outset he has been a deceptive individual and he carries his deception through to the witness box."

"This is a fabrication of counsel that he has formulated as a defense theory," McDermott also said in response to Ducille's assertions yesterday.

Bridgewater and Lightbourne are accused of conspiring and attempting to extort up to $25 million from Travolta after the death of his 16-year-old son Jett on Grand Bahama on January 2.

Ducille spent the majority of yesterday morning taking McDermott through his previous testimony, his deposition, and audio and videotape evidence heard in court Monday, in an effort to uncover inaccuracies, of which Ducille said there were many.

McDermott yesterday admitted that he did not give "an accurate statement" when he insisted during a January 20 meeting with Lightbourne that he see a document the ambulance driver allegedly believed could have been damaging to Travolta.

McDermott acknowledged that he was shown the document several days before by his local attorney — PLP Senate leader Allyson Maynard-Gibson — who said she had gotten it from Bridgewater.

McDermott said that he was acting in accordance with his instructions from Bahamian police who he claims told him to act as if he would negotiate a deal for the sale of that document.

"So the deal was not real then?" Ducille asked McDermott yesterday.

"Was the deal real? Yes. Was it an enforceable contract? No," McDermott said. "No money could ever be paid because it was an unenforceable contract under civil law. No money was ever to be paid."

Ducille claimed that McDermott sought to teach Bridgewater and Lightbourne a lesson when he came down to The Bahamas on January 17.

McDermott maintained that he came to share the information regarding an alleged threat and an alleged demand Bridgewater delivered on behalf of Lightbourne to Travolta.

McDermott admitted that Bridgewater never spoke to Travolta directly.

Ducille continued his assertions from previous days of cross-examination that McDermott was the mastermind behind a plot to entrap Bridgewater and Lightbourne.

McDermott and Ducille have been sparring during cross-examination for days.

They had a number of heated exchanges last week, and on Thursday testimony escalated into a shouting match that prompted Justice Allen to stop proceedings and leave her court for a brief period of time.

She issued a stern warning on Friday, and constantly reminded the men to refrain from making extraneous comments Monday.

Tuesday's proceedings ended several hours early as a juror did not return to court after the lunch break because she was said to be ill.

Court proceedings resume today.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009


John Travolta's attorney Michael McDermott

http://www.thenassauguardian.com/

[gwen]

Cross-examination overheats in Bridgewater trial again

By JUAN MCCARTNEY ~ Guardian Senior Reporter ~ juan@nasguard.com:

A firestorm erupted in the trial of former Senator Pleasant Bridgewater and ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne yesterday, as Lightbourne's attorney Carlson Shurland cross-examined an attorney for American actor John Travolta.

As Shurland shot a barrage of questions at Michael McDermott, things reached a fever pitch in the courtroom as the two men traded barbs and made commentary during the cross-examination in direct contravention of repeated warnings by Senior Justice Anita Allen.

It culminated in Allen shouting at Shurland to take his seat as she sought to bring the cross-examination under control.

Lightbourne and Bridgewater are accused of conspiring and attempting to extort $25 million from Travolta after the death of his 16-year-old son Jett Travolta on Grand Bahama on January 2.

During yesterday's proceedings, Shurland sought to dismantle McDermott's

previous testimony.

He started off asking McDermott if he wanted to reference any films.

"You used 'Mad Max' on Ms. Bridgewater; you used 'A Few Good Men' on [her attorney Murrio Ducille]," Shurland said. "Have you figured out which movie you're going to use on me?"

Allen cautioned Shurland and McDermott about the kinds of comments they make as they continue.

But things got worse from there.

When Shurland suggested that McDermott lied to Bridgewater when he said their conversations had been private, the men traded verbal jabs.

Ultimately, McDermott denied that as well, telling Shurland, "Please, let's move on."

At that point, Shurland started yelling at McDermott.

"You don't run things in here," Shurland said. As the two exchanged insults, Allen attempted to intervene, however, the men continued yelling at each other.

"I'm not going to allow him to vacillate, your honor," said Shurland.

Allen told Shurland that she was in charge of the court, to which Shurland said: "I'm not going to let him get out of hand... because the court is not reigning him in."

Allen demanded that he take his seat. She then reminded him of the rules of the court.

"I'm not going to put up with it," she said. "I have indicated what the rules are and I expect them to be followed."

However, the cross-examination remained contentious.

Shurland said that McDermott seemed to "have verbal diarrhea."

Allen demanded he withdraw his comments and apologize to the court, which Shurland did.

"I have had enough," Allen said. "Please, let's get through this matter. We have persons who have been here almost three weeks."

Shurland suggested that McDermott planned to have Lightbourne killed if he would not turn over a document the ambulance driver suggested could be detrimental to the actor if made public.

McDermott denied that suggestion.

Shurland also accused McDermott and The Royal Bahamas Police Force of intentionally editing a videotaped conversation between McDermott and Lightbourne on January 20.

He suggested that unlike a videotaped conversation between Bridgewater and McDermott the day before, the January 20 tape did not show Lightbourne entering the room.

Shurland suggested that between the time Lightbourne entered the room and took his seat he asked McDermott if he was being recorded.

"No," McDermott said yesterday. "You're making that up."

Shurland also accused McDermott of leaking information to The Tribune newspaper regarding an alleged attempted extortion against Travolta in a story that appeared in its January 19 edition.

That story appeared the same day that McDermott met Bridgewater at the Sheraton Resort on Cable Beach.

In the videotape of that conversation, McDermott can be seen holding the newspaper, and asking Bridgewater who might have spoken to the newspaper.

The Florida-based attorney was also accused of compensating Senator Allyson Maynard-Gibson, Travolta's local attorney, for entrapping Bridgewater.

Maynard-Gibson has testified that she met with Bridgewater to discuss the document and Lightbourne's alleged threats and alleged demands in Grand Bahama on January 15.

"So how much were you going to give Allyson Maynard-Gibson for setting this all up?" Shurland asked. "You didn't pay her to set this all up did you?"

Allen directed McDermott not to answer the question, as it was not relevant.

"It's not relevant that (Maynard-Gibson) set this all up?" Shurland asked Allen.

The Florida attorney was also accused of trying to secure the document weeks before he came to The Bahamas on January 17.

"Let me suggest that you tried to contact the ambulance driver, Mr. Marcus Garvey," Shurland said.

"Categorically no," McDermott said.

Garvey was reportedly the driver of an ambulance that intercepted the ambulance Lightbourne was driving, on its way to the Rand Memorial Hospital on January 2 after Jett suffered a seizure at Travolta's Old Bahama Bay vacation home that morning.

Garvey is expected to testify as a witness for the defense in the coming days.

McDermott's testimony ended yesterday.

Prosecutors are expected to call two police officers to testify today.


Thursday October 8, 2009

http://www.thenassauguardian.com/nation ... 206894.php

[gwen]

Court hears of 'plot' to destroy Bridgewater

By JUAN MCCARTNEY ~ NG Senior Reporter ~ juan@nasguard.com:

The defense attorney for former Senator Pleasant Bridgewater alleged yesterday that his client was the victim of a widespread conspiracy involving West End and Bimini MP Obie Wilchcombe, Opposition Senate leader Allyson Maynard-Gibson and the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

Murrio Ducille said Bridgewater entered into an innocent sales negotiation that turned into a set-up to discredit and destroy her.

Bridgewater and ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne are accused of attempting to extort $25 million from American actor John Travolta after the death of his 16-year-old son Jett on Grand Bahama on January 2.

The nine jurors in the attempted extortion trial are expected to deliberate and possibly return a verdict today.

When Ducille began closing arguments Monday he said that Wilchcombe was the initiator of the plot, when he called Travolta's American attorney Michael McDermott to tell him about a document her client, Lightbourne, had.

According to Ducille, the plot thickened when Travolta's American attorney Michael McDermott sought to "shift focus" away from international media speculation that Travolta was negligent in his son's death.

"Whatever error she made was not criminal," Ducille said, "yet she finds herself sitting here... fighting for her freedom for an offense that she has not committed. The law does not work that way. It is supposed to protect, not to destroy."

Both defendants are also accused of conspiracy to extort money from Travolta. Bridgewater alone is charged with abetment to extortion.

The prosecution has asserted that the pair demanded the money in exchange for the suppression of a refusal to transport document that Travolta signed, because he claimed he wanted to fly his son to West Palm Beach for medical treatment, as opposed to traveling from the Old Bahama Bay Resort to the Rand Memorial Hospital.

Ducille said McDermott "gave birth" to the extortion plot and lured Bridgewater into meetings under false pretenses, claiming that he wanted to purchase her client's (Lightbourne's) silence, but was working with the police to frame her for extortion.

He said the plan was ultimately to shift the focus of negative international media attention Travolta was receiving after his son's death away from the actor and on to Bridgewater and Lightbourne.

"They cannot afford to have any adverse publicity. So what does (McDermott) do?" Ducille asked. "Set up a bogus charge so that the focus shifts."

Throughout his address to the jury, Ducille maintained that Bridgewater was only doing her job as an attorney.

"Extortionists don't negotiate," Ducille said. "If I am extorting you, you pay me 'x' amount of dollars or I do so and so. It was a business transaction. Whether it's outrageous or not, it's a negotiation. Where is the intent to extort? Where is the extortion — period?"

Ducille said McDermott came to The Bahamas to look into buying the document, and that McDermott testified that he called Bridgewater to set up their meeting at his hotel room on January 19.

"He came to see an extortionist? Can you believe this?" Ducille asked. "If a man is robbing you, do you run to be robbed? This was a joke to Mr. McDermott. He came to The Bahamas with the sole intent of setting up these persons."

Ducille pointed out that extortion requires that a demand and a threat be made from one person to another. Pointing to numerous witness testimonies — as well as that of Travolta's — Ducille said that at no time did Bridgewater ever speak to Travolta directly. He added that in the January 19 meeting, which police videotaped, there is no clear evidence that Bridgewater made a demand of or threatened Travolta.

"The only thing that (McDermott) has on tape is to show that there is negotiation to buy a document, or to buy Mr. Lightbourne's silence," said Ducille, adding that McDermott still attempted to "turn it around into an extortion."

Ducille said that at the end of the day, Bridgewater should have never been arrested or brought to trial.

"This case is a very strange one," he said. "I've been a prosecutor and I've never seen it before. She was doing her job. Somebody comes to her and now she is a co-conspirator."

He told the jurors that they have learned a lot throughout the course of the trial, including "that persons can come here, swear on the Bible and tell lies." He was referring to McDermott.

The defense attorney also said that Bridgewater regrets that Jett died, but it had nothing to do with her.

"Persons can die though they be alive," he said. "My client has been dying. What she wants at this point is a renewal of life."

Claiming that "the prosecution has failed miserably in their efforts to destroy" Bridgewater, Ducille said that, "evil never conquers good."

"It never happens," he said. "Not even in the movies. All I ask of you is that you set my people free."

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

http://www.thenassauguardian.com/nation ... 809076.php

[resigned]

Mistrial declared in Travolta extortion trial

(CNN) -- A mistrial has been declared in the trial of two people accused of attempting to extort millions from actor John Travolta after the death of his 16-year-old son, Jett.

A judge declared a mistrial in the John Travolta extortion trial over possible juror misconduct.

Judge Anita Allen thought someone in the jury had had inappropriate communications outside of the jury room, where jurors had been deliberating for eight hours.

The judge received information that an announcement had been made at a local political rally that one of the defendants had been found not guilty.

Paramedic Tarino Lightbourn and former Bahamian Sen. Pleasant Bridgewater, who is also Lightbourn's attorney, were accused of trying to extort money from Travolta.

Jett Travolta died last January after suffering a seizure at the family's vacation home on the island of Grand Bahamas, where the family was spending a New Year's holiday.

Lightbourn and Bridgewater allegedly tried to get Travolta to pay them $25 million to not make public a medical document, declining to have Jett transported to a nearby hospital. Travolta refused a demand for money.

While lawyers and journalists awaited the verdict Monday morning, they were inundated with calls from colleagues that someone at a rally for the Progressive Liberal Party had announced that Bridgewater was "free at last."

When the courtroom doors opened to a packed crowd, the jury foreman said the jurors needed more time to deliberate. However, Allen opted to discharge the jury.

"About two hours ago, there was an announcement at a particular political party," she said. "It leaves the impression that there may have been a communication in the jury room. I am going to discharge you from returning your verdict."

Allen then ordered a retrial


http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/ ... index.html

[gwen]

John Travolta 'Betrayed' & 'Duped' Me, Claims Man Charged With Extortion

The man who allegedly tried to extort $25 million from John Travolta claims the Hollywood actor is “betraying” him, RadarOnline.com is reporting.

Ex-ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne, who is accused along with attorney Pleasant Bridgewater of a plot to extort money from the Grease star, says he has been “duped” by the actor who had promised to drop charges against them.

"I feel betrayed,” said Lightbourne, who is accused, along with Bridgewater, of threatening to sell a one-page “refusal to transport” document that Travolta signed when he was treating his 16-year-old son, Jett.

“We had an agreement. I feel betrayed by Mr. Travolta.”

The retrial is now set to begin on Monday in Nassau.

"As far as I am aware, it is still on," Deputy Director of Prosecutions, Franklyn Williams, told a local newspaper.

Lightbourne has claimed he met with Travolta’s attorneys last month where they struck a deal, agreeing that as long as he did not take part in any interviews, movies, book deals or speak to any media, the charges against him would be dropped.

"We took his word for it,” he said.

“Now it's all over the newspapers
, the press, the Internet and we're hearing all kind of things.

"As we understood, my attorney called the AG's office and spoke with the prosecutors and they indicated that they have no instructions not to proceed with the trial.

"So we are preparing for the trial which commences on Monday."

Travolta’s son Jett died after hitting his head on a bath and suffering a seizure.

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2 ... -extortion

[gwen]

EXCLUSIVE: Charges Dropped Against Alleged John Travolta Extortionists, No Retrial

The legal prosecution of two men who were accusing of trying to extort $25 million from John Travolta and Kelly Preston after the death of their son Jett has come to a dramatic end, RadarOnline.com learned.

"The defendants have been discharged," Neil Braithwaite, Chief Counsel in the Office of the Attorney General, announced Monday morning at the courthouse in the Bahamas.

"Mr. Travolta is no longer interested in pursuing the matter because it has caused his family great emotional distress."

Tarino Lightbourne and Pleasant Bridgewater always maintained their innocence. Their first trial, which began a year ago, was stopped by the judge who then ordered the retrial that was scheduled to begin today.

The retrial would have required Travolta to again testify about the events surrounding the tragic death of his son Jett, and without that, the prosecution believed they could not get a conviction.

John Travolta spent Sunday with his very pregnant wife Kelly Preston at The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort.

The pair enjoyed Butterbeer at the Hog's Head pub and then visited the and shop where the wand selects the wizard.

With Kelly just weeks away from giving birth to a son, the adventure was a fun distraction from the legal situation in the Bahamas.

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2 ... no-retrial