Dunkirk101
11-18-2005, 06:32 PM
Blake Hit with $30 Mil Verdict
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Fri Nov 18, 4:39 PM ET
Don't do the crime, if you can't pay $30 million.
Likely, Robert Blake is in no mood to sing that tune Friday after a civil jury in Burbank, California, ruled that he intentionally caused the death of wife Bonny Lee Bakley, and that he should pay a whopping $30 million in damages to the slain woman's children.
Earle Caldwell, Blake's codefendant and former bodyguard, is off the hook--the majority of the jury in the wrongful death trial found that Caldwell did not conspire to kill Bakley.
The verdicts came on the eighth day of deliberations. Visit for more:
Like fellow famed defendant O.J. Simpson, Blake had better luck at the criminal trial phase. In March, the former Baretta star was acquitted of murder charges. The civil trial operated under a lower burden of proof, with jurors merely asked to believe that Blake probably aided Bakley's downfall.
The Bakley family sued Blake and Caldwell in 2002.
It was unclear how or when Blake would make good on the financial judgment: The onetime Emmy winner claims he's broke.
Blake's acting career all but ended with the May 4, 2001, slaying of Bakley. The former Little Rascal who came of age on the big screen as a killer in In Cold Blood was under police suspicion from the onset. and was arrested in 2002. His case marched to trial at an exceedingly slow pace, in part because of Blake's penchant for hiring and firing lawyers.
The civil trial also was long in the making. Attempts to settle--Blake reportedly offered the Bakley camp $250,000--failed. Opening arguments were heard on Aug. 31.
The script for the civil trial followed the same one as the criminal trial, with Bakley's family arguing that Blake wanted his wife dead in order to gain control of their then-infant daughter, Rosie. Blake's side stuck to a familiar refrain, as well: No, he didn't.
During the criminal trial, Blake passed at the opportunity to take the stand. At the criminal trial, he didn't have a choice. While under oath, Blake sparred with Bakley family attorney Eric Dubin ("Don't put words in my mouth, junior"), reenacted his and Bakley's last supper together, and fondly remembered his late wife as someone who slept with him on their first date. He denied shooting Bakley, and he denied hiring a hitman to shoot Bakley.
Blake and Bakley met in 1999 at a jazz club. He was 20 years past his greatest, Emmy-winning success as Detective Tony Baretta of the 1975-78 cop show; she was a wannabe starlet and scam artist whose true talent lie in attaching herself to slightly fallen stars (Jerry Lee Lewis) and never-shone ones (Christian Brando, son of Marlon). The couple consummated their relationship--then, of the one-night stand variety--at a Los Angeles hotel.
Bakley announced she was pregnant in 2000. Blake married her after DNA tests determined that he, not Christian Brando, was the father of a baby girl born in June of that year.
Blake and Bakley's child, Rosie, now 5, is being raised by Blake's adult daughter Delinah. Rosie was included by her Bakley kin as a plaintiff in the civil suit.
http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/ent/news/eo/20051118/113236074002_2.jpg
Fri Nov 18, 4:39 PM ET
Don't do the crime, if you can't pay $30 million.
Likely, Robert Blake is in no mood to sing that tune Friday after a civil jury in Burbank, California, ruled that he intentionally caused the death of wife Bonny Lee Bakley, and that he should pay a whopping $30 million in damages to the slain woman's children.
Earle Caldwell, Blake's codefendant and former bodyguard, is off the hook--the majority of the jury in the wrongful death trial found that Caldwell did not conspire to kill Bakley.
The verdicts came on the eighth day of deliberations. Visit for more:
Like fellow famed defendant O.J. Simpson, Blake had better luck at the criminal trial phase. In March, the former Baretta star was acquitted of murder charges. The civil trial operated under a lower burden of proof, with jurors merely asked to believe that Blake probably aided Bakley's downfall.
The Bakley family sued Blake and Caldwell in 2002.
It was unclear how or when Blake would make good on the financial judgment: The onetime Emmy winner claims he's broke.
Blake's acting career all but ended with the May 4, 2001, slaying of Bakley. The former Little Rascal who came of age on the big screen as a killer in In Cold Blood was under police suspicion from the onset. and was arrested in 2002. His case marched to trial at an exceedingly slow pace, in part because of Blake's penchant for hiring and firing lawyers.
The civil trial also was long in the making. Attempts to settle--Blake reportedly offered the Bakley camp $250,000--failed. Opening arguments were heard on Aug. 31.
The script for the civil trial followed the same one as the criminal trial, with Bakley's family arguing that Blake wanted his wife dead in order to gain control of their then-infant daughter, Rosie. Blake's side stuck to a familiar refrain, as well: No, he didn't.
During the criminal trial, Blake passed at the opportunity to take the stand. At the criminal trial, he didn't have a choice. While under oath, Blake sparred with Bakley family attorney Eric Dubin ("Don't put words in my mouth, junior"), reenacted his and Bakley's last supper together, and fondly remembered his late wife as someone who slept with him on their first date. He denied shooting Bakley, and he denied hiring a hitman to shoot Bakley.
Blake and Bakley met in 1999 at a jazz club. He was 20 years past his greatest, Emmy-winning success as Detective Tony Baretta of the 1975-78 cop show; she was a wannabe starlet and scam artist whose true talent lie in attaching herself to slightly fallen stars (Jerry Lee Lewis) and never-shone ones (Christian Brando, son of Marlon). The couple consummated their relationship--then, of the one-night stand variety--at a Los Angeles hotel.
Bakley announced she was pregnant in 2000. Blake married her after DNA tests determined that he, not Christian Brando, was the father of a baby girl born in June of that year.
Blake and Bakley's child, Rosie, now 5, is being raised by Blake's adult daughter Delinah. Rosie was included by her Bakley kin as a plaintiff in the civil suit.