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American Morning

Blake to Face Charges Today

Aired April 22, 2002 - 07:09   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Actor Robert Blake, arrested last Thursday for the murder of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, will appear before a judge today to face charges, one, a murder with special circumstances and two counts of solicitation of murder.

In an interview with "LARRY KING LIVE," Blake's attorney, Harland Braun, admitted that his client did, indeed, have a motive to kill his wife.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARLAND BRAUN, ROBERT BLAKE'S ATTORNEY: I have never said there is not a motive in this case. What Bonny did to his life was horrific. Basically, she turned his life upside down, got involved in a marriage he did not want to be involved in, because he loved Rose. So motive has never really been an issue. There are a lot of people who have a motive to kill Bonny Bakley, and I wouldn't say that Robert Blake did not have a motive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: And joining us this morning for the first time in his official new role as CNN legal analyst is Jeffrey Toobin -- congratulations.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Thank you.

ZAHN: Delighted you are on our team.

TOOBIN: It's a pleasure to be here.

ZAHN: All right. Let's talk a little bit Harland Braun.

TOOBIN: OK.

ZAHN: Did it make sense he got that out of the way?

TOOBIN: I guess so. You know, his strategy...

ZAHN: It's kind of unusual, is it not?

TOOBIN: It's very unusual. But his strategy is, look, this woman was so awful that to know her was to want to kill her. And since it's obvious that this was an improvised marriage involving two people who clearly did not love each other, he pretty much had to recognize reality and say, look, he had a motive to kill too, but look at how terrible she was; lots of others did as well.

ZAHN: You had a chance to spend some time on the phone with Harland Braun very recently, and I'm just curious what his reaction is to this -- what some folks are saying not a rush to judgment. It has taken police almost a year to put this case on the front burner here. But apparently, there was a complete coordination with the district attorney's office. How can that be?

TOOBIN: It's a very odd situation. Usually in a big case, what happens is the D.A. file charges, and the police then go out and arrest the person. Here, the D.A. has not yet filed any charges. All we have is a police arrest. So it's not until the arraignment today that we are going to know what Robert Blake is really charged with. I mean, it is theoretically possible that they may say, you know, the case is not ready, let him go today. So there is more tension to this arraignment than there usually is in a big case.

ZAHN: Now, obviously the charge against the LAPD during the O.J. Simpson case, at least on the part of his attorneys, was that there was a rush to judgment. So how can it be that you have interviewed 150 witnesses, and that you brought together the evidence the prosecution claims they have, and you might end up in the courtroom today and say, we're going to take a break here?

TOOBIN: Well, I doubt that is going to happen. I really doubt that it is. But remember, they were doing searches over the weekend and on Friday. This investigation is very much ongoing. The LAPD, the L.A. district attorney's office is haunted by its failure in big high-profile cases, not just Simpson, but the twilight zone, the McMartin Preschool. They are trying to do everything to go over the top and be prepared here. You know, it remains to be seen whether it works.

ZAHN: What do we know about the quality of the prosecutors who will be trying this case?

TOOBIN: They are sort of establishment, long-time members of the office, not high-profile people, but I have a feeling they soon will be.

ZAHN: Yes, everybody is going to be covering it. But tell us a little bit more about the D.A.'s office, if it chooses to go with murder with special circumstances, what exactly that means.

TOOBIN: In simple terms what it means is the death penalty. If they seek murder with special circumstances, here the special circumstance potentially is what's called lying in wait. It's a form of premeditation. The only way you can be charged with a capital crime is murder with special circumstances, and that's at least where the cops were heading. We'll see whether the D.A. is heading the same way.

ZAHN: Now, that means that they will charge him with physically pulling the trigger on the gun itself. TOOBIN: Actually, he is charged with being the trigger man firing the gun.

ZAHN: And in addition to that, they have another potential charge of trying to hire hit men to do the job.

TOOBIN: Right. The police claim -- we don't obviously know if it's true yet -- that he tried to hire two other people to kill his wife, and they turned him down. They presumably will be witnesses in the trial. If it's true, it's devastating evidence against him.

ZAHN: Now, explain to us the challenge Harland Braun, the defense has, not only in trying to defend his client, but also walk this fine line where he has along the way repeatedly trashed Bonny Lee Bakley, and he is clearly going to make the past an issue. But he's got to do that in a way that you don't completely turn the jury off.

TOOBIN: Well, it's very interesting. You know, he is a tough guy. He is not afraid of being seen as politically incorrect in sort of speaking ill of the dead. Remember, this is the guy who tried successfully the Rodney King case on behalf of one of the cops. And one of the defenses that worked in that Simi Valley trial was that, you know, King was fighting back. He deserved to be hit the way he was by the police.

That's not something you can say in polite company. Most people obviously don't agree with it, but here, he is willing to say, you know, this woman asked for it. Lots of people wanted to kill her. And you know, we'll see whether it works.

ZAHN: Well, he is casting a very wide net, where he said almost anybody that came into contact with her essentially would probably have a reason to kill her.

TOOBIN: And...

ZAHN: Now, that's going a little too far.

TOOBIN: Well, and he's got a legal problem on the horizon there of you can't, as a defense attorney, just put a victim on trial and say, all sorts of people had potential motives. You've got to point to specific people with specific opportunities who might really have had the chance to do the deed. So it's one thing to trash Bonny Bakley in the press. He is going to have to come up with relevant evidence in court if he wants to make it in front of a jury.

ZAHN: But you would acknowledge that her past certainly is a nightmare for prosecutors.

TOOBIN: She is not an ideal victim, that's true. I mean, she has, you know, got specific problems. She has a criminal record involving use of false identity papers. And she has -- you know, she was apparently running these Web sites for lonely hearts men, enticing them into giving her money with the promise of nude photos or even marriage. So she does have specific problems, but I think most jurors say, you know, you don't deserve to die for something like that. So it's a tough defense.

ZAHN: Well, we look forward to having you come back to talk about a whole range of issues -- welcome aboard.

TOOBIN: Thank you much.

ZAHN: Jeffery Toobin, our in-house CNN legal analyst now.

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