'Juror Leak' Sparks Travolta Mistrial

Alleged extortionists to face new trial after word of acquittal gets out
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 22, 2009 2:06 AM CDT
'Juror Leak' Sparks Travolta Mistrial
Paramedic and alleged extortionist Tarino Lightbourne speaks on his cell phone as he arrived in court in Nassau, Bahamas, last month.   (AP Photo/Tim Aylen)

A Bahamian judge ordered a mistrial in the John Travolta extortion case yesterday after a loose-lipped juror apparently spread word that one of the two accused would be acquitted. The judge blamed juror misconduct after a local politician made a speech saying that a former senator—charged along with a paramedic of trying to extort $25 million from Travolta over his son's death—was "a free woman." The pair will be tried again, the New York Daily News reports.
(More mistrial stories.)

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