LOS ANGELES – A jury Friday found Robert Blake liable under civil law for his wife’s murder four years ago, and awarded her children $30 million in damages against him.
The 72-year-old entertainer, best known for his roles in “Our Gang,” “In Cold Blood” and “Baretta,” was acquitted of murder earlier this year when a separate jury could not find evidence beyond a reasonable doubt against him for the murder of Bonny Lee Bakley.
But with a lower burden of proof in the civil case, jurors needed only to decide that Blake was more likely than not responsible for Bakley’s death. The Los Angeles County Superior Court jury in Burbank panel voted to hold the actor financially liable.
Blake did not testify at the criminal trial, but spent eight days on the stand during the civil trial.
The nine-man, three-woman jury, who heard from more than 40 witnesses during two months of testimony, rejected the allegation brought by the Bakley heirs that Blake’s handyman, Earl Caldwell, participated in a conspiracy with the actor to kill Bakley on May 4, 2001.
Jurors returned the verdict on the eighth day of deliberations. They voted for damages in favor of Bakley’s daughter by Blake, Rosie, now 5, and Bakley’s three other children: Glen Gawron, 25, Holly Gawron, 24, and Jerri Lee Lewis, 12.
The result mirrors the outcome of the O.J. Simpson case. The football star was found responsible in civil court for killing his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman after an acquittal by a criminal jury.
Bakley family lawyer Eric Dubin successfully pursued a connect-the-dots strategy, underscoring the differences between what Blake told authorities and his testimony.
For Blake, the verdict culminated a four-year legal fight that started with his arrest on a charge of murder in April 2002, a year after his wife’s slaying in Studio City. At the criminal trial, prosecutors argued that Blake shot Bakley after failing to persuade two ex-Hollywood stuntmen to carry out the killing. Blake’s motive, authorities argued, was to gain sole custody of Rosie. Blake hated Bakley, prosecutors argued, because she tricked him into marriage, and because of her past, including a fraud conviction, her sale of nude photographs of herself, and a lonely hearts club scam.
Dubin insisted that Blake was the only person “on the planet” with a motive to kill Bakley. The lawyer had rejected a $250,000 offer to settle the case before the trial began.
Associated Press
Robert Blake awaits Friday’s verdict in the civil case against him in the death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.
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