Robert Blake found not guilty
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 verdict came after eight days of deliberations by the jury.
The 71-year-old star of the 1970s detective drama 'Baretta' was charged with one count of murder and two counts of solicitation of murder. Court officials said the jury was deadlocked on one of the solicitation counts..
Prosecutors claimed Blake shot Bonny Lee Bakley, 44, in a car outside a restaurant in May 2001 after failing to persuade two ex-stuntmen to kill her.
The verdicts came several hours after jurors reviewed testimony from an author who said police provided him with details of an interview with one of the former stuntmen, Ronald 'Duffy' Hambleton.
Miles Corwin wrote the book 'Homicide Special: A Year with the LAPD's Elite Detective Unit' in which he included details of the Blake investigation and other cases.
Corwin testified Hambleton told police that Blake had approached him to work on a script and had said nothing about wanting to have his wife killed.
Hambleton denied knowing anything about a plot to kill Bakley until six months after the crime, but then gave a detailed account of Blake allegedly scouting locations for the murder.
Hambleton's testimony was crucial to the prosecution because there is no DNA or other physical evidence linking Blake to the crime.
Defense attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach suggested Hambleton made up the story while either delusional from drugs or to win favor with authorities as he faced an unrelated misdemeanor firearms charge.
The verdict came after eight days of deliberations by the jury.
The 71-year-old star of the 1970s detective drama 'Baretta' was charged with one count of murder and two counts of solicitation of murder. Court officials said the jury was deadlocked on one of the solicitation counts..
Prosecutors claimed Blake shot Bonny Lee Bakley, 44, in a car outside a restaurant in May 2001 after failing to persuade two ex-stuntmen to kill her.
The verdicts came several hours after jurors reviewed testimony from an author who said police provided him with details of an interview with one of the former stuntmen, Ronald 'Duffy' Hambleton.
Miles Corwin wrote the book 'Homicide Special: A Year with the LAPD's Elite Detective Unit' in which he included details of the Blake investigation and other cases.
Corwin testified Hambleton told police that Blake had approached him to work on a script and had said nothing about wanting to have his wife killed.
Hambleton denied knowing anything about a plot to kill Bakley until six months after the crime, but then gave a detailed account of Blake allegedly scouting locations for the murder.
Hambleton's testimony was crucial to the prosecution because there is no DNA or other physical evidence linking Blake to the crime.
Defense attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach suggested Hambleton made up the story while either delusional from drugs or to win favor with authorities as he faced an unrelated misdemeanor firearms charge.
