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Bond Denied for Blake

Aired October 09, 2002 - 13:17   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: A judge in Van Nuys, California has denied bond for actor Robert Blake, who has been in jail since April, charged with murdering his wife.
CNN's Charles Feldman is covering the story, brings us the latest from there -- Charles.

CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, hi.

As you pointed out, the first headline, of course, is that as you said correctly, Robert Blake has once again been denied bail. That issue is to come up again either before a preliminary hearing in December, or maybe it will be addressed on appeal to the state supreme court.

But there's a second headline, and for that I'm going to bring in Mr. Harlan Braun, who is Mr. Blake's attorney.

You have now raised an issue that has not been raised thus far about this case, and it does have echoes of the O.J. Simpson case, which is evidence tampering. You are suggested that someone from the L.A. County district attorney's office or someone from the Los Angeles Police Department or a rider who was along during the search may have tampered with evidence.

Can you explain that?

HARLAND BRAUN, BLAKE DEFENSE ATTY.: It's pretty clearly been tampered with. It's different from the other case, because it does not link Robert Blake to the killing, but it was an attempt by someone to remove three bullets from a box of nine millimeters to match the three bullets that were in the murder weapon. It did not work, because they were different types of bullets.

We would not have raised this -- we have known about it for a year. We only raised it because the district attorney brought the evidence in on the motion knowing full well it was irrelevant, and at worst, tampered evidence.

FELDMAN: For people in the audience who don't know a lot about guns, what do you mean they are different bullets?

BRAUN: The bullets in the murder weapon were new bullets. The bullets in the box of 100 with three missing were reloads, which are total different types of bullets. There were three in the murder weapon, three taken from the box. That's why the coincidence was too great to just have been a coincidence. FELDMAN: How serious is this charge on your behalf, and how much is a part of the defense is this ultimately going to be?

BRAUN: It will not be part of the defense if they don't use the evidence. I have known about this for a year. I was shocked that the district attorney, knowing that, number one, it was irrelevant, and possibly tampered with, even brought it into court. It was just dishonest for them to do it.

FELDMAN: Back on the issue of bail, disappointed in today's decision?

BRAUN: Business, but there's a bright side. We've had another chance to look at their case. We can see how desperate they are that they would actually use this evidence as sort of a last-minute attempt to deny him bail. We're going to the Supreme Court. Let's give the system a chance to work itself out.

FELDMAN: This time, do you expect the Supreme Court to actually, if they want to, grant bail, or do you think they're going to, once again, send it back to the magistrate here?

BRAUN: No, I think that this imagine state has told them, I'm not going to have a bail hearing, I didn't want a bail hearing, and so you got Supreme Court, you're not going to get bail. We're going to ask the Supreme Court, they have the same record that the Judge Nash did, to grant him bail and get on with the trial.

FELDMAN: Harland Braun, thank you very much. So again, the two headlines, no bail for Blake, and alleged evidence tampering -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Charles Feldman, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 9, 2002 - 13:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A judge in Van Nuys, California has denied bond for actor Robert Blake, who has been in jail since April, charged with murdering his wife.
CNN's Charles Feldman is covering the story, brings us the latest from there -- Charles.

CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, hi.

As you pointed out, the first headline, of course, is that as you said correctly, Robert Blake has once again been denied bail. That issue is to come up again either before a preliminary hearing in December, or maybe it will be addressed on appeal to the state supreme court.

But there's a second headline, and for that I'm going to bring in Mr. Harlan Braun, who is Mr. Blake's attorney.

You have now raised an issue that has not been raised thus far about this case, and it does have echoes of the O.J. Simpson case, which is evidence tampering. You are suggested that someone from the L.A. County district attorney's office or someone from the Los Angeles Police Department or a rider who was along during the search may have tampered with evidence.

Can you explain that?

HARLAND BRAUN, BLAKE DEFENSE ATTY.: It's pretty clearly been tampered with. It's different from the other case, because it does not link Robert Blake to the killing, but it was an attempt by someone to remove three bullets from a box of nine millimeters to match the three bullets that were in the murder weapon. It did not work, because they were different types of bullets.

We would not have raised this -- we have known about it for a year. We only raised it because the district attorney brought the evidence in on the motion knowing full well it was irrelevant, and at worst, tampered evidence.

FELDMAN: For people in the audience who don't know a lot about guns, what do you mean they are different bullets?

BRAUN: The bullets in the murder weapon were new bullets. The bullets in the box of 100 with three missing were reloads, which are total different types of bullets. There were three in the murder weapon, three taken from the box. That's why the coincidence was too great to just have been a coincidence. FELDMAN: How serious is this charge on your behalf, and how much is a part of the defense is this ultimately going to be?

BRAUN: It will not be part of the defense if they don't use the evidence. I have known about this for a year. I was shocked that the district attorney, knowing that, number one, it was irrelevant, and possibly tampered with, even brought it into court. It was just dishonest for them to do it.

FELDMAN: Back on the issue of bail, disappointed in today's decision?

BRAUN: Business, but there's a bright side. We've had another chance to look at their case. We can see how desperate they are that they would actually use this evidence as sort of a last-minute attempt to deny him bail. We're going to the Supreme Court. Let's give the system a chance to work itself out.

FELDMAN: This time, do you expect the Supreme Court to actually, if they want to, grant bail, or do you think they're going to, once again, send it back to the magistrate here?

BRAUN: No, I think that this imagine state has told them, I'm not going to have a bail hearing, I didn't want a bail hearing, and so you got Supreme Court, you're not going to get bail. We're going to ask the Supreme Court, they have the same record that the Judge Nash did, to grant him bail and get on with the trial.

FELDMAN: Harland Braun, thank you very much. So again, the two headlines, no bail for Blake, and alleged evidence tampering -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Charles Feldman, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com