Blake found not guilty

updated 9:46 p.m. ET March 16, 2005

LOS ANGELES - A jury acquitted tough-guy actor Robert Blake of murder Wednesday in the shooting death of his wife four years ago, bringing a stunning end to a case that played out like pulp fiction.

The jury also acquitted Blake of one charge of trying to get someone to kill his wife, but deadlocked on a second solicitation charge. The jury voted 11-1 in favor of acquittal and the judge dismissed the count.

The 71-year-old star of the 1970s detective drama “Baretta” dropped his head, trembled with emotion and sobbed heavily as the verdict was read. He hugged his lawyer and later almost fell while reaching for a water bottle.

The adult daughter of Blake’s wife sobbed quietly in the back of the courtroom.

The jury of seven men and five women delivered the verdicts on its ninth day of deliberations, following a trial with a cast of characters that included two Hollywood stuntmen who said Blake tried to get them to bump off his wife.

Blake had faced life in prison; prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.

Blake was charged with shooting 44-year-old Bonny Lee Bakley in their car outside the actor’s favorite Italian restaurant on May 4, 2001, less than six months after their marriage.

The defense called it a weak case built largely on the testimony of the two stuntmen — both of whom were once heavy drug users.

No eyewitnesses, blood or DNA evidence linked Blake to the crime. The murder weapon, found in a trash bin, could not be traced to Blake, and witnesses said the minuscule amounts of gunshot residue found on Blake’s hands could have come from a different gun he said he carried for protection.

Prosecutors said Blake believed his wife trapped him into a loveless marriage by getting pregnant. They said Blake soon became smitten with the baby, Rosie, and desperately wanted to keep the child away from Bakley, whom he considered an unfit mother.

Bakley had been married several times, had a record for mail fraud and made a living scamming men out of money with nude pictures of herself and promises of sex.

“He was tricked by Bonny Lee and he hated her for it,” prosecutor Shellie Samuels said in closing arguments. “He got taken by a small-time grifter.”

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