Blake’s Lawyers Protest Verdict

Lawyers for Robert Blake asked a judge Monday to overturn a $30-million wrongful death verdict against the actor, saying jurors made the award out of disgust over the acquittals of celebrity defendants including O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson.

Juror Jose Elias in a sworn statement said that some panelists viewed the Blake verdict as a way “to send a message that rich people and celebrities can’t get away with causing someone’s death.”

“Jurors talked about O.J. Simpson getting away with murder and Michael Jackson getting away with molestation,” Elias, 75, said in an affidavit filed with the motion for a new trial.

Blake was acquitted of the 2001 murder of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, 44, who was fatally shot outside a Studio City restaurant. The 72-year-old former “Baretta” star was subsequently found liable for Bakley’s death in a separate civil action.

Simpson was acquitted a decade ago of the murders of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman, then ordered to pay their families a multimillion-dollar civil award. Jackson was acquitted last year of child molestation charges.

In their motion, Blake’s lawyers, Gerald Schwartzbach and Peter Ezell, accused another juror of misconduct for allegedly concealing that her daughter was serving time in prison for the slaying of a teenage classmate.

They also said one juror had admitted disobeying the judge’s order and discussing testimony during the trial, that other jurors argued that the Bible supported a judgment against Blake and that an alternate juror improperly participated in deliberations.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Schacter should grant a new trial because “the outcome of the trial might have been different absent the [juror] misconduct,” the lawyers said. They also called the verdict “grossly excessive” and “utterly unsupported by the evidence.”

Bakley family attorney Eric J. Dubin could not be reached for comment.

Dubin argued at trial that Blake tried to hire two former Hollywood stuntmen to kill his wife. When that failed, Blake pulled the trigger himself, Dubin said.

Blake testified that he went back to Vitello’s restaurant to retrieve a gun and returned to find Bakley slumped and bleeding in his sports car. She died later at a hospital.