Bahamian Politician Says Sorry to Judge... But Not to Travoltas

Filed under: Highbrow Celebrities, Movie News, Troublemakers

Picewell Forbes, the lawmaker whose public slip-up caused a mistrial in the John Travolta extortion case, has apologized to the judge and the people of the Bahamas - but there was no "sorry" for the Travolta family. "My statements were reckless and interfered with the course of justice in that case and were further capable of bringing disrepute to the whole administration of justice," Forbes said during a news conference, the Associated Press reports.
The trial of two people accused of trying to extort John Travolta following the death of his son in the Bahamas was declared a mistrial after Forbes suggested the still-deliberating jury had acquitted one of the defendants, former Bahamas senator Pleasant Bridgewater. Jurors were still deliberating when the politician told an audience at a Progressive Liberal Party convention that Bridgewater was "a free woman."

Forbes has not revealed who told him that Bridgewater had been acquitted

Senior Justice Anita Allen, who presided over the extortion trial, has said she is considering a contempt of court charge against Forbes. The lawmaker is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.

Allen said that Forbes' comment gave her no choice but to dismiss the jurors. She did not set a new trial date, but it is expected to be scheduled for some time next year.