Prosecutors Argue to Keep Blake in Jail

Prosecutors told the state Supreme Court on Thursday that they have presented sufficient evidence to hold actor Robert Blake in jail without bail.

Blake, 68, is charged with fatally shooting his 44-year-old wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, on May 4, 2001, near a Studio City restaurant. He is also charged with twice soliciting others to kill her and with conspiracy. Additionally, prosecutors allege that Blake intentionally killed Bakley while lying in wait, a capital offense.

Despite those charges, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office announced seven days after Blake’s April 18 arrest that it would not seek the death penalty. If convicted, Blake faces life in prison without parole.

His attorney, Harland W. Braun, has argued that prosecutors charged his client with the special circumstance of lying in wait solely to deny him bail. Without that allegation, Blake, who is being held at Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, would be eligible for release on $1-million bail.

Braun is now asking the state Supreme Court to order a bail hearing for his client and to dismiss the lying in wait allegation as unconstitutionally vague.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lloyd M. Nash has said he will consider both requests after he hears evidence at the Nov. 13 preliminary hearing. The 2nd District Court of Appeal last month denied the same requests.

But, in a surprising move, the state Supreme Court this month asked prosecutors to respond to Blake’s petition for review. The court said it would rule by Oct. 1.

Deputy Dist. Attys. George M. Palmer and Brent Riggs asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to deny Blake’s petition.

The prosecutors said they have shown all the elements needed to prove the special circumstance of lying in wait: that Blake concealed his purpose for taking Bakley to dinner at a Studio City restaurant and that he then waited for an opportune time to stage a surprise attack on her.

Prosecutors have noted that Blake made a dinner reservation at Vitello’s the night Bakley was killed, although he had never done so before. They said he parked two blocks away behind a garbage bin and out of sight, and left Bakley alone in his car while he allegedly returned to the restaurant to retrieve a handgun. In those few minutes, Bakley was shot in the head and shoulder.

Blake has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In his defense, Braun has argued that Bakley enraged many men, any one of whom might have killed her. He also said that prosecutors lack any physical or forensic evidence linking Blake to the crime scene.

Braun has argued that Blake should be permitted to post bail because he does not pose a flight risk nor is he a danger to the community.

Prosecutors in court papers rejected the defense’s argument that recent changes in state law make the lying in wait allegation unconstitutionally vague.

They also said the state Constitution denies bail to all defendants who are charged with capital crimes, even when the death penalty is not sought.