A jury acquitted tough-guy actor Robert Blake of murder in the shooting death of his wife four years ago, bringing a dramatic end to a case that played out like pulp fiction.
The jury on Wednesday also acquitted Blake of one charge of trying to get someone to kill Bonny Lee Bakley, but deadlocked on a second solicitation charge. The jury voted 11-1 in favor of acquittal and the judge dismissed the count.
The 71-year-old star of the 1970s TV detective series Baretta sobbed uncontrollably at the defense table, embraced his attorney and exhaled heavily as the verdicts sank in.
Bakley's adult daughter sobbed quietly in the back of the courtroom. Outside the courthouse, Blake was cheered by supporters and put out a cigarette he had been smoking as he began a rambling speech in which he thanked his lawyers and private investigators.
"This small band of dedicated warriors saved my life," he said.
He also described the financial toll the case had taken on him.
"If you want to know how to go through US$10 million in five years, ask me," said Blake, who was free on bail during his trial but under house arrest. "I'm broke. I need a job."
At one point, Blake asked whether anyone in the crowd had something to remove his electronic monitoring bracelet. He then bent down and cut off the ankle device.
The jury of seven men and five women delivered the verdicts on its ninth day of deliberations, following a trial with a cast of characters that included two Hollywood stuntmen who said Blake tried to get them to bump off his wife.
Blake had faced life in prison; prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
Blake was charged with shooting Bakley, 44, in their car outside the actor's favorite Italian restaurant on May 4, 2001, less than six months after their marriage.
The defense called it a weak case built largely on the testimony of the two stuntmen -- both of whom were once heavy drug users.
"The prosecution built their case on the backs of those two men and neither one of them was worthy of belief," defense attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach said outside court.
No eyewitnesses, blood or DNA evidence linked Blake to the crime. The murder weapon, found in a trash bin, could not be traced to Blake, and witnesses said the minuscule amounts of gunshot residue found on Blake's hands could have come from a different gun he said he carried for protection.
"They couldn't put the gun in his hand," jury foreman Thomas Nicholson said outside court, adding that the case lacked evidence that could "connect all the links in the chain."
Nicholson called one of the stuntmen a "prolific liar."
Prosecutors said Blake believed his wife trapped him into a loveless marriage by getting pregnant.
They said Blake soon became smitten with the baby, Rosie, and desperately wanted to keep the child away from Bakley, whom he considered an unfit mother. Rosie, now 4, is being raised by Blake's adult daughter.
Bakley had been married several times, had a record for mail fraud and made a living scamming men out of money with nude pictures of herself and promises of sex.
Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said the prosecution had done its best with the case.
"The jury has weighed the evidence, and the decision has been made," she said.
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