WTF?


Blake found not guilty in wife's killing
Juror: 'We just didn't have enough evidence'
Wednesday, March 16, 2005 Posted: 7:07 PM EST (0007 GMT)


LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Four years of a real-life crime story ended Wednesday for actor Robert Blake, the star of "In Cold Blood" and "Baretta," when a California jury acquitted him of murder in the 2001 slaying of his wife.

Blake, 71, met the verdicts with sobs and embraced his lawyer after the announcement, which followed more than a week of deliberations.

Blake was charged with one count of murder with a special circumstance of lying in wait and two counts of solicitation of murder in the death of Bonny Lee Bakley, 44. He would have faced a sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Jurors acquitted him of the murder count as well as one count of solicitation of murder. They deadlocked on a second solicitation count, with the vote 11-1 in favor of a not-guilty verdict.

Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp dismissed the remaining count, saying a retrial on that count "would not result in anything different."

In the moments before the verdict, Blake sat at the defense table, almost with a scowl on his face. When the not guilty verdict was read, he smiled, leaned over and hugged his attorney. He then placed his head on the table and sobbed. At one point, he nearly collapsed; hands shaking, he fumbled with a bottle of water his lawyer gave him.

"I'm pretty surprised," CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said. "It sure seemed like he was the only person with the opportunity, the motive and the means to kill [Bakley].

"But there was no eyewitness. There was no murder weapon established," Toobin said. "The jury didn't buy it, and the jury didn't buy the whole prosecution's case."

Later, juror Lorie Moore said the prosecution did not prove its case.

"We just didn't have enough evidence to say whether he did or if he didn't" commit the crimes, she said.

Blake attorney Gerald Schwartzbach said his client handled the trial with "tremendous grace."

"He handled the deliberations with more composure than I was able to muster," Schwartzbach said.

Jury foreman Thomas Nicholson said prosecutors "couldn't put the gun in his hand" with evidence of gunshot residue or blood on Blake's clothing. Jurors considered the circumstantial evidence against Blake "flimsy" and discounted the testimony of two key prosecution witnesses, he said.

"They could never connect all the links in the chain," Nicholson said.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney, said prosecutors and police believed they had a "solid circumstantial case" against Blake.

"We believe the evidence was compelling," she said. "We presented the evidence to the jury fully, honestly and professionally. Unfortunately, these jurors disagreed with our view of the evidence."



I'm thinking Rob and OJ should team up to try and find the real killers.

have you ever seen the reasons people give as to why they are voted for something/someone by reporter? the fact is, you can either manipulate or so profoundly confuse a good amount of people into saying stuff like "it didn't fit, just like they told me to-i must acquit" or "i think it's important to cut taxes and make our schools and health care system better at the same time".

this happens primarily in los angeles, OJ would have been shot during the chase in dixie or have ended up swinging from a tree by his neck. celebrities can't be guilty, especially if they do hertz commercials or david lynch cameos. he would have gotten convicted in boston where an acting career is meaningless, if not detrimental to his case out of contempt for hollywood. if he was hardcore-irish and killed her here, i'd give him a good shot.

You mean like if he drove off a bridge into a river and she drowned he would get off in Boston.