Two people accused in a $25 million blackmail plot against John Travolta could go free – because wife Kelly Preston can’t bear to see him face the devastating ordeal of another trial, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively.
Travolta has already undergone two harrowing appearances in the witness box, forced to relive in agonizing detail the last moments of his tragic autistic son Jett’s life.
And Kelly, who watched anxiouslyas he gave evidence in Nassau, Bahamas, before the proceedings ended in a dramatic mistrial on Oct. 21, believes John can’t take the strain of a second trial, say sources.
"The first trial was so emotionally draining for John that Kelly doesn’t want him to go through it again," a source close to the case told The ENQUIRER.
And that could be good news for Tarino Lightbourne, the ambulance driver who drove 16-year-old Jett part of the way to the hospital after he was found unconscious at the family’s Bahamian vacation home on Jan. 2.
Lightbourne and his attorney, prominent former Bahamian politician Pleasant Bridgewater, are accused of attempting to extort $25 million from the star over a paper he signed in the midst of the battle to save Jett.
Lightbourne claimed the document – a routine treatment release – showed that John was responsible for his son’s death.
Their month-long trial ended sensationally in a mistrial over a mistaken "jury leak" – minutes before the jurors were reportedly ready to return guilty verdicts.
Prosecutors announced the trial would start over next year.
The court case took a terrible toll on Travolta even before it began.
As The ENQUIRER reported in an exclusive story, he suffered a devastating emotional collapse as he prepared to give evidence.
An ENQUIRER reporter was in the courtroom when Travolta took the witness stand and observed that John seemed like a broken man as he described his unsuccessful battle to save Jett’s life.
Kelly watched anxiously from the front row of the public seating and never took her eyes off him. When he’d finished giving evidence, she gently reached for his hand and comforted him as they left the court.
After the abrupt ending to the trial, Travolta’s attorney Michael Ossi said: "John was very disappointed because he wanted closure." He said Travolta would "fully cooperate" with prosecutors.
But the close source told The ENQUIRER: "Attorneys in the case have been told that Kelly doesn’t want John to have to go through that again.
"And if she persuades him not to give evidence for a second time, the heart of the prosecution will be cut out.
"It could mean the charges being bargained down – and BOTH defendants walking free."
