when i read this it seems like the lapd arrested blake in the murder not because they had any evidence he commited the crime, but mearly because he was a suspect? as one juror said - no evidence: "There was no (gunshot residue). There was no blood on the clothing. There was nothing. They could never connect all the links in the chain." and of course the lapd actions destroyed blakes life. it cost him $10 million to defend himself. in my view this would be a good reason for when the state arrest you and your not guilty the state should pay your costs plus damages for false arrest. Original Article Blake is acquitted in murder of wife Kimberly Edds Special for the Washington Post Mar. 17, 2005 12:00 AM LOS ANGELES - Actor Robert Blake, who found fame playing a tough-guy detective on television and a psychotic killer in the movies, was acquitted of killing his wife Wednesday, ending a case that read like a Hollywood script. Prosecutors said that the actor, now 71, had tried to solicit two stuntmen to "whack" his wife and that when they turned him down, he had done it himself, shooting her as she sat in his car outside his favorite Italian restaurant nearly four years ago. But after deliberating nine days, a jury found Blake not guilty on the murder charge and one count of soliciting someone to kill his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. Jurors deadlocked on another solicitation charge. Blake, who had maintained his innocence in a nationally televised interview with Barbara Walters after his arrest, dropped his head on a courtroom table when the verdict was read and wept. The trial was the stuff of the cable news shows that in recent months had included the end of the Scott Peterson murder trial - he was sentenced to death Wednesday - and the opening of Michael Jackson's child-molestation trial. Talking to reporters outside the courthouse after the verdict was read, Blake said, "You're innocent until proven broke." The actor said he spent $10 million on his defense. Prosecutors had said that Blake killed Bakley, 44, because he felt duped into marrying her but was devoted to their daughter, Rosie. But jurors said they were unconvinced. "They couldn't put the gun in his hand," jury foreman Thomas Nicholson said after the verdict. "There was no (gunshot residue). There was no blood on the clothing. There was nothing. They could never connect all the links in the chain." Bakley was a grifter with a record for fraud. She had long been attracted to celebrities and said she had a child with Jerry Lee Lewis. Blake said Bakley had told him she was on birth control when they had sex in his car outside a jazz club. But she became pregnant and, when a paternity test established he was the father, Blake married her. He said he was determined that his daughter would not turn out like her mother. The couple had been married less than six months when Bakley was killed. When Los Angeles police arrested Blake, they said his motive was to end a bad relationship and keep his daughter. Bakley was shot to death after she and Blake had eaten dinner at Vitello's restaurant in Studio City. She had been alone in the car while Blake went back inside the eatery to retrieve a handgun he carried for personal protection that he said he left at their table. No one witnessed the slaying. There was no physical evidence to tie Blake to the crime, no blood spatters and no gun residue. During the trial, Deputy District Attorney Shellie Samuels relied on two former stuntmen, Gary "Whiz Kid" McLarty and Ronald "Duffy" Hambleton, who told jurors that Blake offered them thousands of dollars to "whack" Bakley. Blake floated several scenarios to his former colleagues, they said, including a plan to have his wife killed while she waited in the car near Vitello's. But family and friends testified that the two were heavy drug users and suffered from delusions. Jury foreman Nicholson said Hambleton was a "prolific liar" who "couldn't get the story straight if you set it in front of him" and said McLarty's testimony was "disjointed" and "irregular." Blake began his acting career as a child playing Little Mickey in the Our Gang series. He later played a killer who was executed in the movie version of Truman Capote's real-life thriller In Cold Blood. But he is best known for his portrayal of a police detective in the 1970s television show Baretta and his appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, wisecracking with lines such as, "And that's the name of that tune." But his once-dark, wavy hair has gone white and is closely cropped. The actor has had little work in recent years and says he needs to find some.