Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Prosecutors Laying Out Case Against Robert Blake
Aired February 27, 2003 - 08:09 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Paula, prosecutors in L.A. laying out their case against the actor Robert Blake. A preliminary hearing entering its second day a bit later today, trying to determine whether or not there is enough evidence to try Blake in the fatal shooting of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.
Meanwhile, the actor broke his silence in an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters. It aired last night. A portion of what Robert Blake had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT BLAKE, ACCUSED OF MURDER: I'm not going to be found guilty. Why? It's real simple. Because god has never ever deserted me. I can't say I haven't deserted him from time to time, but he has never deserted -- oh, don't talk about god. Don't talk about god, you might get jurors that are something else. What do I care? What do I care? I'm going to worry about 12 people to make sure all of them believe in god because if one doesn't? What do I care?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Robert Blake on ABC last night.
Jeffrey Toobin this morning here on AMERICAN MORNING.
What did you think?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know, this is a guy who's spent his whole life in front of cameras and he's good in front of cameras. And, you know, he made a very sort of compelling case for himself, that he really cares about his little daughter, Rosie, the, Bonny's, his daughter with Bonny Bakley. I mean I thought he was a very compelling presence. You know, he did not talk about the details of the case, the evidence in the case, which is, of course, his big problem.
But, you know, given that forum, he was a celebrity and people like celebrities.
HEMMER: A foreshadow -- if you were an attorney, then, looking down the road, if we go to trial, you debate whether or not you put the guy on the stand. If he's that convincing for ABC, can he do the same for jurors?
TOOBIN: You know what? Very different, because the rules of the game in the Barbara Walters interview is that he couldn't be confronted with the specifics in the case.
HEMMER: True. That's right.
TOOBIN: Put on the witness stand, you know, why did you call these stunt men, why does the phone card show 56 calls from your home, why didn't you use your home phone? Those are a lot tougher questions than Barbara Walters was able to ask.
HEMMER: Let's talk about what happened in court yesterday, quickly. These recordings, these audio recordings that have come out of Bonny Lee Bakley and her past now surfacing. A portion of what was played yesterday that goes somewhat toward motive.
Have a listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLAKE: I'm not going to be found guilty. Why? It's real simple. Because god has never ever deserted me. I can't say I haven't deserted him from time to time, but he has never deserted -- oh, don't talk about god. Don't talk about god, you might get jurors that are something else. What do I...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TOOBIN: It was so compelling, we had to hear it again.
HEMMER: Had to hear it twice, for sure.
TOOBIN: That's for sure.
HEMMER: Let's get the right tape right now, the recording played in court yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLAKE: But whatever reason, that's what you did. You lied to me. You double crossed me. You double dealt me. And that's who you are. That's how you operate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: How critical could that be? Robert Blake's voice encouraging Bonny Lee Bakley to essentially abort the child?
TOOBIN: You know, I don't think I've ever seen a murder case with more evidence of motive. I mean he couldn't stand this woman. There is all sorts of evidence that she was driving him absolutely nuts before they were married, while she was pregnant, after the baby was born. What's interesting is that there's all this evidence of motive. The evidence regarding the night of the murder is pretty circumstantial and not as good, but motive, there's plenty of evidence, and that's good evidence.
HEMMER: A bit of a bombshell, though. William Welch, a long time friend, a former cop, now a detective, part of the conversation he says he had with Robert Blake about trying to essentially take care of Bonny Lee Bakley if she does not follow his orders for an abortion.
Listen to what happened in court yesterday on this front.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM WELCH, BLAKE'S PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: We're going to hire a doctor. We're going to abort her and if that doesn't work, we're going to whack her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Had you ever heard this prior to yesterday?
TOOBIN: This was a bombshell. This is now the third person that prosecutors have come up with whom Blake apparently tried to hire to do a hit. You know, if they make a movie of this, they may call it "Throw Mamma From the Train Again" because, I mean, it seems like he almost worked his way through the L.A. telephone book trying to find hit people and the prosecution says when he couldn't find someone, he did it himself.
Again, it goes to motive tremendously. It doesn't prove what happened the night of the murder.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jeff.
More today in L.A.
TOOBIN: More to come.
HEMMER: All right -- Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, gentlemen.
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 February 27, 2003 - 08:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Paula, prosecutors in L.A. laying out their case against the actor Robert Blake. A preliminary hearing entering its second day a bit later today, trying to determine whether or not there is enough evidence to try Blake in the fatal shooting of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.
Meanwhile, the actor broke his silence in an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters. It aired last night. A portion of what Robert Blake had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT BLAKE, ACCUSED OF MURDER: I'm not going to be found guilty. Why? It's real simple. Because god has never ever deserted me. I can't say I haven't deserted him from time to time, but he has never deserted -- oh, don't talk about god. Don't talk about god, you might get jurors that are something else. What do I care? What do I care? I'm going to worry about 12 people to make sure all of them believe in god because if one doesn't? What do I care?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Robert Blake on ABC last night.
Jeffrey Toobin this morning here on AMERICAN MORNING.
What did you think?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know, this is a guy who's spent his whole life in front of cameras and he's good in front of cameras. And, you know, he made a very sort of compelling case for himself, that he really cares about his little daughter, Rosie, the, Bonny's, his daughter with Bonny Bakley. I mean I thought he was a very compelling presence. You know, he did not talk about the details of the case, the evidence in the case, which is, of course, his big problem.
But, you know, given that forum, he was a celebrity and people like celebrities.
HEMMER: A foreshadow -- if you were an attorney, then, looking down the road, if we go to trial, you debate whether or not you put the guy on the stand. If he's that convincing for ABC, can he do the same for jurors?
TOOBIN: You know what? Very different, because the rules of the game in the Barbara Walters interview is that he couldn't be confronted with the specifics in the case.
HEMMER: True. That's right.
TOOBIN: Put on the witness stand, you know, why did you call these stunt men, why does the phone card show 56 calls from your home, why didn't you use your home phone? Those are a lot tougher questions than Barbara Walters was able to ask.
HEMMER: Let's talk about what happened in court yesterday, quickly. These recordings, these audio recordings that have come out of Bonny Lee Bakley and her past now surfacing. A portion of what was played yesterday that goes somewhat toward motive.
Have a listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLAKE: I'm not going to be found guilty. Why? It's real simple. Because god has never ever deserted me. I can't say I haven't deserted him from time to time, but he has never deserted -- oh, don't talk about god. Don't talk about god, you might get jurors that are something else. What do I...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TOOBIN: It was so compelling, we had to hear it again.
HEMMER: Had to hear it twice, for sure.
TOOBIN: That's for sure.
HEMMER: Let's get the right tape right now, the recording played in court yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLAKE: But whatever reason, that's what you did. You lied to me. You double crossed me. You double dealt me. And that's who you are. That's how you operate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: How critical could that be? Robert Blake's voice encouraging Bonny Lee Bakley to essentially abort the child?
TOOBIN: You know, I don't think I've ever seen a murder case with more evidence of motive. I mean he couldn't stand this woman. There is all sorts of evidence that she was driving him absolutely nuts before they were married, while she was pregnant, after the baby was born. What's interesting is that there's all this evidence of motive. The evidence regarding the night of the murder is pretty circumstantial and not as good, but motive, there's plenty of evidence, and that's good evidence.
HEMMER: A bit of a bombshell, though. William Welch, a long time friend, a former cop, now a detective, part of the conversation he says he had with Robert Blake about trying to essentially take care of Bonny Lee Bakley if she does not follow his orders for an abortion.
Listen to what happened in court yesterday on this front.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM WELCH, BLAKE'S PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: We're going to hire a doctor. We're going to abort her and if that doesn't work, we're going to whack her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Had you ever heard this prior to yesterday?
TOOBIN: This was a bombshell. This is now the third person that prosecutors have come up with whom Blake apparently tried to hire to do a hit. You know, if they make a movie of this, they may call it "Throw Mamma From the Train Again" because, I mean, it seems like he almost worked his way through the L.A. telephone book trying to find hit people and the prosecution says when he couldn't find someone, he did it himself.
Again, it goes to motive tremendously. It doesn't prove what happened the night of the murder.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jeff.
More today in L.A.
TOOBIN: More to come.
HEMMER: All right -- Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, gentlemen.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
