Robert Blake Acquitted of Murder
42 minutes ago
By GREG RISLING, Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES - A jury acquitted tough-guy actor Robert Blake (news) of murder Wednesday in the shooting death of his wife four years ago, bringing a dramatic end to a case that played out like pulp fiction.
The jury also acquitted Blake of one charge of trying to get someone to kill Bonny Lee Bakley, but deadlocked on a second solicitation charge. The jury voted 11-1 in favor of acquittal and the judge dismissed the count.
The 71-year-old star of the 1970s detective drama "Baretta" sobbed uncontrollably at the defense table, embraced his attorney and exhaled heavily as the verdicts sank in.
Bakley's adult daughter sobbed quietly in the back of the courtroom.
Outside the courthouse, Blake was cheered by supporters and put out a cigarette he had been smoking as he began a rambling speech in which he thanked his lawyers and private investigators.
"This small band of dedicated warriors saved my life," he said.
He also described the financial toll the case had taken on him.
"If you want to know how to go through $10 million in five years, ask me," said Blake, who was free on bail during his trial but under house arrest. "I'm broke. I need a job."
At one point, Blake asked whether anyone in the crowd had something to remove his electronic monitoring bracelet. He then bent down and cut off the ankle device.
The jury of seven men and five women delivered the verdicts on its ninth day of deliberations, following a trial with a cast a characters that included two Hollywood stuntmen who said Blake tried to get them to bump off his wife.
Blake had faced life in prison; prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
Blake was charged with shooting Bakley, 44, in their car outside the actor's favorite Italian restaurant on May 4, 2001, less than six months after their marriage.
The defense called it a weak case built largely on the testimony of the two stuntmen — both of whom were once heavy drug users.
"The prosecution built their case on the backs of those two men and neither one of them was worthy of belief," defense attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach said outside court.
No eyewitnesses, blood or DNA evidence linked Blake to the crime. The murder weapon, found in a trash bin, could not be traced to Blake, and witnesses said the minuscule amounts of gunshot residue found on Blake's hands could have come from a different gun he said he carried for protection.
"They couldn't put the gun in his hand," jury foreman Thomas Nicholson told reporters outside court, adding that the case lacked evidence that could "connect all the links in the chain." Nicholson called one of the stuntmen a "prolific liar."
Prosecutors said Blake believed his wife trapped him into a loveless marriage by getting pregnant. They said Blake soon became smitten with the baby, Rosie, and desperately wanted to keep the child away from Bakley, whom he considered an unfit mother. Rosie, now 4, is being raised by Blake's adult daughter.
Bakley had been married several times, had a record for mail fraud and made a living scamming men out of money with nude pictures of herself and promises of sex.
Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said the prosecution had done its best with the case. "The jury has weighed the evidence, and the decision has been made."
Eric Dubin, an attorney representing Bakley's family, said the verdict won't stop their wrongful death suit against Blake scheduled to begin on July 7.
"When we put him on the stand, we'll find he's guilty in the civil court," Dubin said.
Bakley's daughter Holly Gawron, 24, said she was shocked by the verdicts and looked forward to the lawsuit.
"I hope somehow that I will be able to find some justice, some form of punishment for him, because he's off celebrating his freedom for murdering my mother," she said. "It's very hard to deal with."
The four-month trial was part of a wave of celebrity court cases in California that have provided endless fodder for the tabloids and cable networks. The Michael Jackson (news) child molestation trial was starting just as the Blake case was wrapping up, and rock 'n' roll producer Phil Spector will stand trial later this year in Los Angeles for allegedly murdering a B-movie actress.
In another murder case that was seemingly made for the tabloids, Scott Peterson (news - web sites) was sent to death row just a few hours before the Blake verdict for killing his pregnant wife and her unborn fetus.
Blake has been in front of the camera from childhood, back when he was sad-eyed little Mickey in the "Our Gang" movie shorts, and he portrayed a killer who dies on the gallows in the 1967 movie "In Cold Blood."
In "Baretta," Blake played a tough-talking, street-smart detective whose catchphrase was "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."
Those acting successes seemed well in the past by the time a divorced and lonely Blake met Bakley at a jazz club five years ago. They had sex in his truck that night, and she was soon carrying Blake's child. They were wed in 2000 in a no-frills ceremony at which the bride wore an electronic monitoring bracelet because she was still on probation for fraud.
Prosecutors said Blake killed his wife after failing to persuade a street thug-turned-minister and the two stuntmen from his "Baretta" days to do the job. One of the stuntmen said Blake talked about having Bakley "snuffed" and mentioned locations for the killing, including the Grand Canyon.
Also, a former detective who worked for Blake as a private investigator testified that the actor proposed to kidnap Bakley, force her to have an abortion and, if that did not work, "whack her."
Blake told authorities that he walked his wife to the car after dinner, then discovered he had left his gun back in the booth at Vitello's Restaurant. He went back to get it, then returned to the car and found his wife shot, he said.
But some witnesses testified that Blake did not appear to be sincere as he wept and moaned over the slaying that night.
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