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Actor acquitted of murder
17/03/2005 08:06 - (SA)
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| Free at last... (Nick Ut, AP) |
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Los Angeles - A jury acquitted tough-guy actor Robert Blake of murder 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 on Wednesday 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 favour of acquittal and the judge dismissed the count.
The 71-year-old star of the 1970s TV detective series Baretta sobbed uncontrollably at the defence table, embraced his attorney and exhaled heavily as the verdicts sank in.
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 $10m 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."
'They couldn't put the gun in his hand'
The jury of seven men and five women delivered the verdicts on its ninth day of deliberations, following a trial with a cast of characters that included two Hollywood stuntmen who said Blake tried to get them to bump off his wife.
Blake was charged with shooting Bakley, 44, in their car outside the actor's favourite Italian restaurant on May 4, 2001, less than six months after their marriage.
The defence 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," defence 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".
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.
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.
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