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CNN Live Today
Blake Expected to Be Arraigned Monday
Aired April 19, 2002 - 14:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to Los Angeles, here at home, where Robert Blake is sitting in the hospital ward of the LA County jail, not because he's sick, but to separate him from the other prisoners. He's expected to be arraigned on Monday in last year's killing of Bonny Lee Bakley, a woman he'd married only a few months earlier.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez joins us now with the latest on this case -- Thelma.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, we just got off the phone with the men's central jail. And we were told that Robert Blake is, in fact, still sitting in the hospital ward of the men's central jail. Again, as you had mentioned, not because he's sick, but for his own safety and security, something that they do with high- profile people all the time.
The Los Angeles district attorney's office also mentioned to us this morning that they request that Robert Blake be held without bail in jail. Los Angeles police say that it was Robert Blake who killed his wife, 44-year-old Bonny Bakley, last May. The motive, they say, is that Blake was trapped in a marriage he did not want.
Yesterday evening the 68-year-old actor was taken into custody. Police say that when they arrived at his million-dollar estate, in the gated community of Hidden Hills, that he opened the door and he surrendered. Blake was led away in handcuffs and taken to Parker Center, where he was processed.
The massive investigation took detectives to 20 different states. They talked with more than 150 witnesses. And they say they have significant evidence against the actor to charge him with the murder of Bonny Lee Bakley. Her family has maintained all along that Blake was her killer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARY GOLDSTEIN, ATTY. FOR BAKLEY FAMILY: I think they're hitting the nail on the head when they speak about motive. Robert Blake didn't want Bonny in his life. He didn't want to pay child support to her. He didn't want to be married to her. He wanted her out of the picture, but he wanted the child. And he succeeded in doing that. I doubt that he's going to get away with murder, though.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTIERREZ: Blake's attorney, Harland Braun, has said all along that it was someone out of Blake's -- Bakley's past, not her husband, who killed her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARLAND BRAUN, BLAKE'S ATTORNEY: I believe that the real killer is out there. I haven't analyzed their case. But from everything Robert has told me -- remember, I've watched him for a year looking for a hint as to what, maybe he did it or didn't do it. And he's always impressed me as maintaining his innocence but being very calm about it.
He understands that there's never been a question of motive in this case. What this lady did to this life was horrific. So he's understood that. He was there and he has a motive. But he maintains that he didn't do it, and I've haven't seen anything to the contrary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTIERREZ: Los Angeles police also made a second arrest yesterday. Earl Caldwell, who is Robert Blake's bodyguard and his one-time handyman was taken into custody just after leaving Blake's home. Caldwell is accused of conspiracy to commit murder. Police would not elaborate, but they say that Caldwell was not in town the night of the murder.
Now, Robert Blake is expected to be arraigned on Monday in Van Nuys. He'll be charged with one count of murder with the special circumstance of lying in weight. That could make him eligible for the death penalty. But it will be up to prosecutors to decide whether or not to seek the death penalty. And right now they are requesting he be held without bail. Fredricka, back to you.
WHITFIELD: And, Thelma, what more can you tell us about Blake's demeanor when he was arrested?
GUTIERREZ: From what we could see -- again, these were aerial shots taken from above when he was led out of the home. Harland Braun has said that when he called Blake and told him that the police were coming to arrest him, he advised him that he should cooperate.
Police said that when they came to his home, he simply opened the door. He was very polite. He was passive, and he gave himself up. He was led out of his home wearing a green baseball cap and a T-shirt. And he fully cooperated with police.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks very much, Thelma Gutierrez from Los Angeles, for that update. One thing Robert Blake can't ever be accused of is stability, in either his personal life or his career, say some. CNN's Charles Feldman looks back.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bet you haven't heard many actors say something like this before...
ROBERT BLAKE, ACTOR: I ain't doping. I ain't juicing. God is kind of checking me out to see how much I can take.
FELDMAN: That's actor Robert Blake during a 1985 interview, but typical Blake. Blake played tough-talking, shoot-from-the-hip characters in the movies and on TV. He played his real life much the same way.
Blake was, is, a Hollywood institution, something he talked about during a ballet workout back in 1992.
BLAKE: I started in 1936. 1938 was in the "Rascals," and I've been in front of the box all my life. All I ever did was get in front of the box, hit the marks and say the jokes.
BLAKE: You and mom have been mighty good to me, ever since I was a kid.
FELDMAN: Blake was just a boy when he got the part of Mickey in the "Our Gang" comedy films. But he claims his real life was no laughing matter.
BLAKE: I had a real snake pit horror childhood -- that my father was an insane man who should have been locked up. He locked me in closets, he threw me against the wall. He made me eat on the floor like a dog. He kept me on a leash. He was insane. And my mother was worse.
FELDMAN: By the time Blake reached his 20s, movie roles proved hard to find. But TV beckoned. The tube provided Blake with roles, some money and a respite. But the small screen was not the best place to show off Blake's obvious talent.
In 1967, Blake got the role of a lifetime, playing a killer in the movie "In Cold Blood."
BLAKE: He just lived there all alone. That big empty failure.
FELDMAN: Despite the wide acclaim Blake got for his star turn, his past demons apparently caught up with him. Salvation, of sorts, once again came from the small screen. In 1974 Blake took on the role of TV cop, Baretta.
BLAKE: The next cop you meet ain't going to be a chump like me.
FELDMAN (on camera): The very first episode dealt with Baretta trying to solve the murder of his fiance outside of a restaurant.
But Blake's personal demons again started to run amok. Battles erupted on the set. "Baretta" was dropped from the ABC lineup in 1978 and it took years before Blake returned to TV.
(voice-over): But he did in 1985 in "Hell Town." He played a tough priest.
BLAKE: Are you ready to kill me? Are you ready to kill a priest, huh?
FELDMAN: "Hell Town" proved no match for the glitzy "Dynasty" series and was quickly dropped.
BLAKE: It all came to a head when I was doing "Hell Town," and I fell apart. I mean, without getting real dramatic, it just -- it was the end of the road. And I came as close to really just sticking a .357 in my mouth as anybody could come. And I quit. I quit everything. I quit life.
FELDMAN: Blake has made a few films since, including a TV movie based on the life of John List, who killed his family. But nothing put his name back in the headlines like his current real-life situation. Charles Feldman, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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