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CNN Live Today

Robert Blake Bail Hearing to be Held Today

Aired June 18, 2002 - 14:23   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Robert Blake is due back in court in a couple of hours for a bail hearing. Prosecutors say the actor is a flight risk, but his defense team wants the courts to set bail.

CNN national correspondent Frank Buckley has more from the courthouse in Los Angeles -- Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, so far Judge Lloyd Nash hasn't been inclined to take up the bail issue. He says the appropriate time to talk about that is after the preliminary hearing.

He did say, however, after the last court hearing, that Harland Braun, who is Robert Blake's attorney, could brief on the subject, if he wanted to. Harland Braun has done just that. He has prepared briefs. Today we expect arguments on the issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(voice-over): Robert Blake is returning to a courtroom, exactly two months to the day after being arrested for murder, to ask a judge for bail.

HARLAND BRAUN, ATTNY. FOR ROBERT BLAKE: Based on the fact that Robert's not a flight risk, and not a danger to society, and he should be able to post the regular bail for first-degree murder in California, and not be held in a situation where it's harder to defend himself.

BUCKLEY: Prosecutors have successfully argued against bail for Blake, saying the murder he is charged with, of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, involves the special circumstance of lying in wait. That makes it a potential death-penalty case, in which Blake is not eligible for bail.

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty, but Blake's attorney argues that the special circumstance itself is unconstitutional, because it gives prosecutors too much discretion.

LAURIE LEVENSON, FMR. FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: What Blake's lawyer is really arguing is, look, this wasn't lying in wait, because, because if this is lying in wait, any type of first-degree murder is lying in wait. And that special circumstance should be struck at this point, and Blake should be eligible for bail. BUCKLEY: But in papers filed Monday, prosecutors laid out their case for the lying-in-wait circumstance, saying Blake discussed "whacking" Bonny Lee Bakley with a private investigator more than a year before the murder, that he suggested a number of ambush scenarios with a stuntman whom he allegedly solicited for the murder, and that this stuntman, whom Blake solicited, specifically said that Blake expected him to be lying in wait.

Prosecutors say Blake himself ultimately pulled the trigger, saying, in a timeline provided in the court papers, that Blake left Vitello's Restaurant with Ms. Bakley by 9:30 p.m., that he approached local resident Sean Stanek (ph) 10 minutes later, at 9:40, to call 911, that Blake had at least 10 minutes in which to commit the murder -- ample time, prosecutors write, in which to watch and wait for an opportune moment.

If Judge Lloyd Nash grants bail, Blake's attorney says he would be better able to participate in his own defense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(on camera): Prosecutors will strongly oppose Blake's motion to strike the special circumstance. They say that if this isn't a lying- in-wait case, they don't know what is -- Kyra.

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