TIGblogs - Dennis Dames

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

American actor John Travolta testified yesterday that he was told by his attorney that ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne threatened that if Travolta did not pay him $25 million he would sell stories to international media outlets that suggested the movie star was somehow responsible for the death of his 16-year-old son Jett Travolta in Grand Bahama on January 2.

Lightbourne and former Senator Pleasant Bridgewater are accused of attempting to extort money from Travolta in January.

Travolta told the jury that Lightbourne indicated through attorneys that if he did not pay, he would use a consent document that the actor initially signed refusing to have his son Jett sent to a local hospital against him.

That document, which Travolta previously testified that he signed in the heat of the moment, would have cleared Lightbourne of any liability should Jett not have been taken to the Rand Memorial Hospital in Grand Bahama.

Travolta testified last week that he signed the document because he initially wanted his son flown to Florida for treatment. However, he was eventually taken to the Rand where he was pronounced dead.

Travolta said that his employee, Ronald Zupancic, told him on January 16 that Lightbourne said that if the demand of $25 million was not met "that certain stories connected to that document would be sold to the press."

"They were stories that would imply that the death of my son was intentional and I was culpable in some way," said Travolta, as his actress wife Kelly Preston looked on from the gallery.

Travolta said Zupancic told him that his (Travolta's) attorney, Michael McDermott, who had allegedly been communicating with Bridgewater (Lightbourne's attorney at the time) needed to speak with him.

Travolta said he spoke to McDermott on January 16.

He said McDermott briefed him further on the alleged threat from Bridgewater and Lightbourne and advised that he contact the police.

"I said to him 'what do you do in a situation like this?' He said 'well, you alert the authorities,'" Travolta testified yesterday. "I gave him permission to go to The Bahamas police based on the information that he told me."

Travolta and Preston left the court immediately following his testimony in an entourage of cars with their attorneys and bodyguards.

He was released as a witness and is not expected to give further testimony.

Senator Allyson Maynard-Gibson testified Tuesday that Bridgewater told her in a January meeting that Lightbourne was talking with a woman from an American news outlet "who said it might be beneficial to him if he could show that Travolta was negligent." She said Bridgewater said Lightbourne was also in talks with several other media companies.

McDermott testified yesterday afternoon that he met with Bridgewater three days after he first spoke to Travolta on the matter.

However, before he could detail that alleged meeting Bridgewater's attorney, Murrio Ducille, raised a legal objection that halted the proceedings.

Before he was interrupted, McDermott said that he flew to The Bahamas on January 18 and stayed at the Sheraton Resort on Cable Beach.

McDermott said that on that day he had a telephone conversation with Bridgewater, which he gave police permission to record.

He said he met with Bridgewater in his room the following day. He also said the police videotaped that meeting which lasted for about 40 minutes.

Those audio and video recordings are expected to be played at some point during the trial.

Senior Justice Anita Allen asked McDermott to return today to continue his testimony.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

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