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Robert Blake: Wife
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Robert Blake, the courtroom sequel, is ready to roll. Opening arguments in the wrongful-death civil trial pitting the Emmy winner against the family of his slain wife were set for Thursday morning in Burbank, California. This, after 11 men and five women were selected late Wednesday to serve as jurors.
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At the time of the murder, Blake told authorities that he had left his wife alone in their parked car while he returned to the restaurant to retrieve a gun he claimed had fallen out of his clothing. Blake and his lawyer, Harlan Braun, suggested in interviews given to TV news shows immediately following the incident that Bakley, who had been painted as a grifter, may have been done away with by a former boyfriend or one of the many men they claimed she had bilked out of money in con schemes. She and Blake had been married for about five months before the slaying, after DNA tests proved that he fathered her 11-month-old daughter. Police Chief Bernard Parks told the AP that detectives will seek to have prosecutors charge Blake with one count of murder with special circumstances (which could make him eligible for the death penalty) and two counts of solicitation of murder.
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Los Angeles police searched actor Robert Blake's home a second time on Wednesday, according to Reuters. The LAPD issued a warrant to inspect the 67-year-old actor's Studio City, Calif. home, acting on "new information" that places Blake back on the list of suspects. The LAPD has declined to comment on the search. Blake's wife, Bonny, 45, was shot to death last Friday night outside an L.A. restaurant.
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LATEST: Veteran actor ROBERT BLAKE has appealed a $30 million (GBP15.4 million) wrongful death verdict, alleging jurors acted inappropriately during the civil trial. The former BARETTA star was acquitted in 2005 of killing wife BONNIE LEE BAKLEY, but a civil jury a few months later decided he intentionally caused her death and awarded her family the multi-million dollar compensation. However, Blake's attorney M. GERALD SCHWARTZBACH, presented a 55-page appeal in California 2nd District Court of Appeal yesterday (28FEB07) claiming jurors discussed O.J. SIMPSON, ignored the lack of evidence that Blake killed his wife and decided to "send a message that celebrities and rich people cannot get away with murder". Schwartzbach ... maintains a juror who had a hearing impairment and said he missed most of the testimony was prodded into voting for the verdict by other panelists, who warned he would force a mistrial if he didn't agree with them. Although Blake has filed for bankruptcy and is unlikely to pay the award, Schwartzbach is pressing for the verdict to be reversed to preserve the actor's reputation. Plaintiffs' lawyer ERIC DUBIN said Blake's appeal was clearly an attempt to delay paying the judgment.
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Los Angeles police have found the gun they believe is the weapon that was used to murder Robert Blake's wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, according to ABC News. A Walther PPK was found in a dumpster about a block and a half from the scene of the murder. ABC's Good Morning America ... reported that the gun had two shots fired from it, and that Bakely was shot twice, once in the head and once in the shoulder. Bakely was shot while waiting for Blake in his car outside Vitello's, a Los Angeles-area restaurant. The police also found a box of bullets in Blake's house that fits the gun. The gun is not registered to Blake.
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The couple had met at a night club and married in November of 2000, after having learned that Blake was the father of Bakley's 11-month-old daughter. Bakley originally had thought and hoped that Marlon Brando's son, Christian Brando was the father and when DNA tests revealed otherwise, Blake had married her, but at the same time hired a private investigator to look into her background. "The problem is that she had sort of a checkered background," police admitted, saying she milked money out of lonely men by selling nude photographs of herself and others across the country. Bakley had ... earned money by investing in real estate and by running a dating service. At the time of the murder, Blake was living in his four bedroom house and his wife was living in a sepearate building located on Blake's property. Blake living in his four bedroom house and his wife living in the bungalow located on Blake's property.
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