John Travolta and wife Kelly Preston leave the court building in Nassau, Bahamas, last September after the actor testified about the death of their autistic son, Jett. (Kris Ingraham/Associated Press)

A judge in the Bahamas has dropped charges against two people accused of trying to extort money from John Travolta following the death of the actor's teenage son in the island chain.

Prosecutor Neil Braithwaite submitted a motion to dismiss the case Monday at the request of the actor and his family.

Delaney said the case had caused the Travolta family "unbelievable" stress, and they wanted to put it behind them. It comes as a retrial was about to start for two defendants accused of attempting to extort $25 million US from Travolta.

"The long-pending status of this matter continued to take a heavy emotional toll on my family, causing us to conclude that it was finally time to put this matter behind us," the actor said in a statement to The Associated Press.

"Therefore, after much reflection I concluded that it was in my family's best interest for me not to voluntarily return to the Bahamas to testify a second time at trial."

A mistrial was declared in October after a lawmaker suggested the still-deliberating jury had acquitted one of the suspects.

An ambulance driver and medic, Tarino Lightbourne, and his lawyer, former Bahamas senator Pleasant Bridgewater, are accused of threatening to release private information about the January 2009 death of Jett Travolta at the family's vacation home in Grand Bahama.