NASSAU, Bahamas -- The Bahamas lawmaker who caused a mistrial in the John Travolta extortion case has been ordered to appear before the judge to explain why he announced an acquittal before the jury had declared a verdict, officials said Thursday.
Picewell Forbes was summoned to explain his remarks in a televised speech to a political party that prompted the judge to dismiss jurors after a month of testimony, two court officials told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue.
Judge Anita Allen said she had no choice but to order a new trial because Forbes' remarks Wednesday night gave the appearance that information had been leaked from the jury room.
Travolta flew to the Bahamas to take the stand twice against former Bahamian Sen. Pleasant Bridgewater and a paramedic accused of trying to extort $25 million from him following his autistic son's death at the family home in Grand Bahama last January. Bridgewater resigned her Senate seat after she was charged.
Forbes, who the officials said was scheduled to appear before the judge today, did not respond to requests for comment.
Anthony McKinney, an attorney for the lawmaker, told a local radio his client was merely repeating a rumor that he heard moments before giving a speech at a convention of his Progressive Liberal Party -- to which Bridgewater also belongs.
Kidman testifies for anti-violence bill
WASHINGTON -- Nicole Kidman conceded Wednesday that Hollywood has probably contributed to violence against women by portraying them as weak sex objects, but the Oscar-winning actress said she is not interested in those kinds of demeaning roles.
Kidman testified before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee that is considering legislation to address violence against women overseas.
Kidman appeared in her role as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Development Fund for Women, known as UNIFEM, to promote the International Violence Against Women Act.
"In the real world, the laws go unenforced and impunity is the norm," she said.
Star rapper Lil Wayne pleads guilty in gun case
From wire reports
NEW YORK -- In the midst of a career surge that has made him one of rap's biggest stars, Lil Wayne is bracing for a year behind bars after pleading guilty Thursday in a two-year-old gun case.
A glum Lil Wayne said little as he admitted illegally having a loaded gun on his tour bus in 2007, moving to end a case that had churned along as he collected Grammys and gold records. He's expected to get a year in jail at his sentencing, set for February.
The plea, which came as he boasted the country's No. 1 pop song, makes Lil Wayne the latest in a long line of rappers to face incarceration after topping the charts.
Arguably rap's most popular artist, Lil Wayne somberly answered his judge's questions with "yes, sir" and "no, sir" as he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempted criminal possession of a weapon.
He acknowledged he had a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun when the bus was stopped shortly after a Manhattan concert on July 22, 2007. His lawyer had previously disputed the gun was the rapper's, in part by questioning the reliability of a highly sensitive DNA test that prosecutors said tied him to the weapon.
State Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon warned Lil Wayne that he wouldn't be able later to withdraw the plea, as some people try to do.
"I'm not one of those people," said the rapper, who sat in court in jeans and a hooded parka. He pulled up the hood and didn't speak as he left the courthouse with members of his entourage, who piled into four black sport utility vehicles. He's due back in court Dec. 15 before his sentencing date, which has yet to be set.
He had faced at least 3¬
