Actor Robert Blake Is Acquitted, and Broke
The murder trial of actor Robert Blake is finally resolved with a verdict of not guilty, but the financial burden of defending himself has left him broke and jobless.
After years of investigations, depositions, speculations, and sensationalistic media coverage, Robert Blake is finally a free man. The 71-year old actor was charged with the 2001 murder of his wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley, as well as a charge of trying to get someone to kill her. A second solicitation charge was dismissed by the judge after the jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquittal. The jury deliberated for nine days before handing down a verdict.
Bonnie Lee Bakley was shot in the head May 4, 2001, as she sat in Blake’s car waiting for him to return from Vitello’s restaurant, where they had just had dinner. According to Blake, he had accompanied Bakley to the car and then realized he had left a gun in the restaurant. He went back to Vitello’s to get his gun, and upon returning to the car he found his wife dead with gunshot wounds to her head. At first police did not consider Blake a suspect, but as the investigation progressed, police quickly changed their minds. He was arrested and charged with murder, two counts of solicitation of murder, and a special circumstance of lying in wait. Police also arrested Blake’s bodyguard, Earle Caldwell, who police alleged acted as a co-conspirator. Blake posted a $1 million bond to have his bodyguard released from jail shortly after his arrest. Blake himself was eventually released on bail, and Caldwell was cleared of all charges in October.
The jury of seven men and five women was headed by jury foreman Thomas Nicholson. Nicholson told reporters that the jury acquitted Blake because prosecutors "couldn’t put the gun" in his hand, and therefore couldn’t prove that the actor shot and killed his wife. Prosecutors had alleged that stuntman Gary McLarty was solicited by Blake to murder Bakley. But according to Nicholson, the jurors felt that McLarty’s testimony was "so disjointed and irregular" that it had "no bearing." In his closing arguments, Schwartzback pointed out that the crime was committed with a 60-year old handgun that contained only three rounds of obsolete ammunition, and he told jurors that it was ridiculous to think that Blake would have killed his wife in his own neighborhood in a car parked beneath a streetlight. Blake had maintained all along that someone else killed his wife while he returned to the restaurant to retrieve the gun he had left behind—a gun he was carrying because his wife was afraid someone was stalking her. Prosecutors argued that Blake killed Bakley because he had come to think of her as a con artist who became pregnant to trick him into marrying her.
Blake’s trial began in December of 2004. His attorney, Gerald Schwartzbach, said that Blake had endured the grueling months in court with more composure than even he did. He said that Blake doesn’t know whether or not he’s getting his life back, or whether his life is over. Outside the court, Blake thanked his defense team and spoke to reporters briefly about the emotional and financial toll the trial and exposure has had on his life. According to Blake, he has gone through $10 million in the past five years.
Before his wife was killed, Robert Blake was a well-known, award-winning actor whose career began with many roles in the "Our Gang" film shorts of the 1930s and 40s. As an adult, he rose to prominence with a riveting performance as a killer in Truman Capote’s "In Cold Blood" in 1967. His celebrity status was cemented by his portrayal of Detective Tony Baretta in the 1970s series "Baretta," for which he won an Outstanding Lead Actor Emmy in 1975. Although his star began to fade in the 1980s, Blake continued attempting to revive his career, most notably with a feature film appearance in David Lynch’s thriller "Lost Highway" in 1997.
But none of the roles he performed ever really brought him back into the limelight of the Hollywood arena—until that night in 2001 when Blake once again began making regular appearances on magazine covers and nightly entertainment shows. It remains to be seen what direction his career will take now that he is a free man.
Bonnie Lee Bakley was shot in the head May 4, 2001, as she sat in Blake’s car waiting for him to return from Vitello’s restaurant, where they had just had dinner. According to Blake, he had accompanied Bakley to the car and then realized he had left a gun in the restaurant. He went back to Vitello’s to get his gun, and upon returning to the car he found his wife dead with gunshot wounds to her head. At first police did not consider Blake a suspect, but as the investigation progressed, police quickly changed their minds. He was arrested and charged with murder, two counts of solicitation of murder, and a special circumstance of lying in wait. Police also arrested Blake’s bodyguard, Earle Caldwell, who police alleged acted as a co-conspirator. Blake posted a $1 million bond to have his bodyguard released from jail shortly after his arrest. Blake himself was eventually released on bail, and Caldwell was cleared of all charges in October.
The jury of seven men and five women was headed by jury foreman Thomas Nicholson. Nicholson told reporters that the jury acquitted Blake because prosecutors "couldn’t put the gun" in his hand, and therefore couldn’t prove that the actor shot and killed his wife. Prosecutors had alleged that stuntman Gary McLarty was solicited by Blake to murder Bakley. But according to Nicholson, the jurors felt that McLarty’s testimony was "so disjointed and irregular" that it had "no bearing." In his closing arguments, Schwartzback pointed out that the crime was committed with a 60-year old handgun that contained only three rounds of obsolete ammunition, and he told jurors that it was ridiculous to think that Blake would have killed his wife in his own neighborhood in a car parked beneath a streetlight. Blake had maintained all along that someone else killed his wife while he returned to the restaurant to retrieve the gun he had left behind—a gun he was carrying because his wife was afraid someone was stalking her. Prosecutors argued that Blake killed Bakley because he had come to think of her as a con artist who became pregnant to trick him into marrying her.
Blake’s trial began in December of 2004. His attorney, Gerald Schwartzbach, said that Blake had endured the grueling months in court with more composure than even he did. He said that Blake doesn’t know whether or not he’s getting his life back, or whether his life is over. Outside the court, Blake thanked his defense team and spoke to reporters briefly about the emotional and financial toll the trial and exposure has had on his life. According to Blake, he has gone through $10 million in the past five years.
Before his wife was killed, Robert Blake was a well-known, award-winning actor whose career began with many roles in the "Our Gang" film shorts of the 1930s and 40s. As an adult, he rose to prominence with a riveting performance as a killer in Truman Capote’s "In Cold Blood" in 1967. His celebrity status was cemented by his portrayal of Detective Tony Baretta in the 1970s series "Baretta," for which he won an Outstanding Lead Actor Emmy in 1975. Although his star began to fade in the 1980s, Blake continued attempting to revive his career, most notably with a feature film appearance in David Lynch’s thriller "Lost Highway" in 1997.
But none of the roles he performed ever really brought him back into the limelight of the Hollywood arena—until that night in 2001 when Blake once again began making regular appearances on magazine covers and nightly entertainment shows. It remains to be seen what direction his career will take now that he is a free man.
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