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LOS ANGELES - A jury acquitted tough-guy actor Robert Blake of murder Wednesday in the shooting death of his wife four years ago, a stunning verdict in a case that played out like pulp fiction.
The jury also acquitted Blake of one charge of trying to get someone to kill his wife, but deadlocked on a second solicitation charge.
The 71-year-old star of the 1970s detective drama “Baretta” dropped his head, trembled with emotion, and let out several deep breaths after the verdict was read.
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 44-year-old Bonny Lee Bakley in their car outside the actor’s favorite Italian restaurant on May 4, 2001, less than six months after their marriage.
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.
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.
“He was tricked by Bonny Lee and he hated her for it,” prosecutor Shellie Samuels said in closing arguments. “He got taken by a small-time grifter.”
The defense called it a weak case built largely on the testimony of two witnesses who were once heavy drug users.
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.
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 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.
LOS ANGELES - A jury acquitted tough-guy actor Robert Blake of murder Wednesday in the shooting death of his wife four years ago, a stunning verdict in a case that played out like pulp fiction.
The jury also acquitted Blake of one charge of trying to get someone to kill his wife, but deadlocked on a second solicitation charge.
The 71-year-old star of the 1970s detective drama “Baretta” dropped his head, trembled with emotion, and let out several deep breaths after the verdict was read.
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 44-year-old Bonny Lee Bakley in their car outside the actor’s favorite Italian restaurant on May 4, 2001, less than six months after their marriage.
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.
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.
“He was tricked by Bonny Lee and he hated her for it,” prosecutor Shellie Samuels said in closing arguments. “He got taken by a small-time grifter.”
The defense called it a weak case built largely on the testimony of two witnesses who were once heavy drug users.
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.
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 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.
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