Blake found not guilty

The four-month trial was part of a wave of celebrity court cases in California that have provided endless fodder for the tabloids and cable networks. The Michael Jackson child molestation trial was starting just as the Blake case was wrapping up, and rock ’n’ roll producer Phil Spector will stand trial later this year in Los Angeles for allegedly murdering a B-movie actress.

In another murder case that was seemingly made for the tabloids, Scott Peterson was sent to death row just a few hours before the Blake verdict for killing his pregnant wife and her unborn fetus.

Blake has been in front of the camera from childhood, back when he was sad-eyed little Mickey in the “Our Gang” movie shorts, and was nominated for an Oscar for the 1967 movie “In Cold Blood,” in which he portrayed a killer who dies on the gallows.

In “Baretta,” Blake played a tough-talking, street-smart detective whose catchphrase was “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.”

Those acting successes seemed well in the past by the time a divorced and lonely Blake met Bakley at a jazz club five years ago. They had sex in his truck that night, and she was soon carrying Blake’s child. They were wed in 2000 in a no-frills ceremony at which the bride wore an electronic monitoring bracelet because she was still on probation for fraud.

'Whack her'?
Prosecutors said Blake killed his wife after failing to persuade a street thug-turned-minister and two stuntmen from his “Baretta” days to do the job. One of the stuntmen said Blake talked about having Bakley “snuffed” and mentioned locations for the killing, including the Grand Canyon.

Also, a former detective who worked for Blake as a private investigator testified that the actor proposed to kidnap Bakley, force her to have an abortion and, if that did not work, “whack her.”

The defense portrayed the stuntmen as drug users prone to hallucinations and delusions.

The police “convicted Mr. Blake on the night of the murder, and then they conducted an incompetent investigation,” defense attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach said.

Blake told authorities that he walked his wife to the car after dinner, then discovered he had left his gun back in the booth at Vitello’s Restaurant. He went back to get it, then returned to the car and found his wife shot, he said.

But some witnesses testified that Blake did not appear to be sincere as he wept and moaned over the slaying that night. One witness said the actor appeared to be “turning it on and off.”

Blake did not testify. But his lawyer showed the jury a videotape of a jailhouse interview with Barbara Walters in which he denied killing his wife.

“It’s all about Rosie. It’s always been about Rosie,” Blake said. “The greatest gift in the world, and I’m going to try to mess it up by being selfish?”

Rosie, now 4, is being raised by Blake’s adult daughter.

MORE FROM ROBERT BLAKE TRIAL

Robert Blake’s deposition delayed

Robert Blake’s deposition delayed Blake says late wife ‘made a lot of enemies’ Blake juror getting hate mail for promotion Jury finds Robert Blake not guilty Lawyer: I'll 'wipe smile off' Blake’s face Ventre: Blake verdict doesn’t feel like justice Video: Blake verdict VOTE: Right decision by Blake jury?   Slide show: Images from Blake's trial   Add Robert Blake trial headlines to your news reader: