Robert Blake found not guilty
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johnnieCzech
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A jury found actor Robert Blake not guilty on Wednesday of the 2001 murder of his estranged wife and also acquitted the former "Baretta" star of soliciting a former stuntman to have her killed.
Blake, 71, hugged his lawyer, heaved a deep sigh of relief and trembled in his seat as the jury's verdict was read after eight days of deliberation, capping a three-month-long trial.
The Los Angeles County Superior Court jury said it was deadlocked 11-to-1 on a second count of solicitation of murder charging Blake with asking another retired stuntman friend to kill his spouse. The judge then dismissed that charge.
Blake had been charged with shooting to death his wife of six months, Bonny Lee Bakley, 44, in his car outside a Los Angeles-area restaurant where they had just dined in May 2001. He faced life in prison without parole if found guilty.
Blake has said his wife was gunned down by an unknown assailant as she waited in his parked car near their favorite restaurant.
He shook with emotion as the verdict was read, burying his head in his hands and seeming to sob. Bakley's adult daughter, Holly, wept silently as Blake was cleared and allowed to walk free from the court.
The case against Blake was based largely on circumstantial evidence, and the trial was marked by lengthy delays, changes of lawyers and suggestions he was targeted because of his celebrity.
Prosecutors argued Blake despised Bakley, who was described in court by both sides as a career con artist, and that he shot her himself after giving up on seeking others to kill her in order to gain custody of the couple's then-infant daughter, Rosie.
They said Blake was furious at Bakley when she got pregnant in 1999. The former child star married Bakley in November 2000 to get her to drop a child abduction charge against him and to get her to sign a prenuptial contract that gave her only limited visitation rights with the baby, prosecution lawyers argued.
The actor's lawyer maintained through the trial there was no physical evidence and no witnesses who could credibly link Blake to the murder. He also undermined the credibility of the two retired stuntmen who testified that they had been asked by Blake to kill his wife.
