Celebrity Cases Pressure L.A. Police

Los Angeles police officers and prosecutors know their every move will be scrutinized in celebrity crime cases like the shooting death of actor Robert Blake’s wife.

Over the years, law enforcement officials have learned that when investigations involve celebrities, even peripherally, it often means they must match high-priced defense lawyers in the court of public opinion as well as the court of law.

Blake, who police have said is only a witness, has retained Harland W. Braun, a veteran of big cases, who says his client is innocent in the May 4 slaying of Bonny Lee Bakley. Braun has held several impromptu news conferences during the investigation, revealing with dramatic flourishes evidence he says points to a mysterious killer tied to Bakley’s shadowy past.

“There is incredible pressure” in cases involving celebrities, said Deputy Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino, who is best known for prosecuting director John Landis in the 1982 deaths of actor Vic Morrow and two children when a helicopter crashed on the “Twilight Zone” movie set. Landis and four others were acquitted on involuntary manslaughter charges. “Everyone is going to microscopically examine everything you have done.”

After watching federal prosecutors lose their drug trafficking case against former auto maker John DeLorean in 1984, D’Agostino said her office was determined to learn from the experience. They saw that case lost in part because DeLorean’s lawyers won the publicity battle on the courthouse steps.

More recently, D’Agostino prosecuted former President Reagan’s grandson for theft. She consulted her supervisor and reviewed other cases to ensure she was seeking an appropriate sentence. She said, “You know that people are going to be second-guessing: ‘Are they going to be getting special treatment?’ ”

Memories of the failed O.J. Simpson prosecution are still fresh, reinforcing the degree to which public scrutiny of investigators and the district attorney’s office increases when the protagonists in crime dramas are household names.

The captain and lieutenant of the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division don’t visit the scene of every homicide, as they did when Bakley was shot to death.

The head deputy of the district attorney’s Major Crimes Division has visited the crime scene and is consulting with detectives.

In some respects, these cases can be no-win propositions. The police don’t want to give the impression a celebrity murder deserves more investigation than any other--but they also fear getting roughed up in court for doing a less-than-perfect job.

Celebrities are certainly subject to special treatment, former Los Angeles Dist Atty. Ira Reiner said. “But not the kind that anyone would want. You get a dozen detectives assigned to it full time and [told to] get to it right now. Everyone gives it special attention,” he said. “You are not getting a break.”

Reiner should know. He oversaw losing prosecutions in a number of high-profile trials, including the protracted McMartin Pre-School molestation case and the first Menendez brothers murder trial, which ended in a hung jury. Some say Reiner lost his 1992 reelection bid to Gil Garcetti as a result. Garcetti later was haunted by courtroom defeats of his own, especially the Simpson trial.

For Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, who ousted Garcetti last year, the Bakley investigation could become his first celebrity murder case, no matter who is charged.

Bakley, 44, was fatally shot in a car one block from a Studio City restaurant where she and Blake had just had dinner. A lawyer for Blake, 67, said the actor left his wife in the car to retrieve a gun he had left at the restaurant. When he returned, Blake found her shot, the lawyer said.

Blake was the star of the 1970s television drama “Baretta” and has appeared in numerous films, including 1967’s “In Cold Blood.”

Inside the district attorney’s office, celebrity cases are reviewed at a higher level, Reiner said.

“It’s just not going to be handled routinely,” he said.

But spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said the district attorney’s office prosecutes many celebrity cases--ranging from actor Robert Downey Jr.’s drug possession charge to the Simpson murder trial--and their complexity determines the treatment they receive. “We handle them professionally and give them all the attention they deserve.”

The police are adamant that they work equally hard to solve all murder cases: When an emotional Mayor Richard Riordan pledged the LAPD would make the Ennis Cosby murder a top priority in 1997, then-chief Willie L. Williams corrected him, saying it would be treated no differently from other murder cases.

“We understand the fact that people might [complain] that more than usual resources are devoted to high-profile crimes,” said LAPD Robbery-Homicide Capt. Jim Tatreau, who is overseeing the Bakley investigation. “But some of that is generated by the media exposure and the leads that they generate. Those have to be dealt with. If not, an accused person has a possible legitimate claim that there were things that were not pursued.”

Police and prosecutors say their response to the crime scene after the Bakley killing was not unusual. Tatreau said deploying nine detectives the next morning allowed them to blanket the neighborhood for potential witnesses before they were tainted by outsiders. “You want to do it before the media does,” he said.

The LAPD has learned some other lessons about handling a media-intensive investigation in the wake of the Simpson trial.

“It used to be just whodunit,” police spokesman Sgt. John Pasquariello said.”But [now] we realize the attention’s going to be on us as much as it’s going to be on the crime itself. We’ve got to be cognizant of that, and realize we’re under the same light as everybody else in this scene. We’ve got to be particular about how our image is portrayed.”

The image of Mark Fuhrman was perhaps the most damning to the LAPD during the Simpson trial. The revelation that he had lied on the witness stand about making racist comments was a key victory for the defense. In the aftermath, Fuhrman moved to Idaho, where he has taken up writing and hosts a radio talk show.

During the Simpson case, Fuhrman said, “There was a little intimidation factor: ‘Oh my God, we have to arrest O.J. Simpson.’ Well, so what?”

He added that since the Simpson trial, the LAPD has learned not to be so sensitive just because a star is involved. The power of Simpson’s celebrity led to a number of police mistakes, he said. Those included a delay in arresting him when there was enough evidence--which led to a chain of carnival-like media events, capped by the infamous freeway chase.

“I think the thing they’ve learned is, you do it the same way as always,” Fuhrman said. “You don’t make special considerations, special options, nothing.”

But attorney Carl E. Douglas, who was among the lawyers on Simpson’s so-called dream team, said police and prosecutors should have learned to avoid moving too hastily.

“The police were justifiably criticized years ago for rushing to judgment,” he continued. “Certainly, each case is different . . . but I think they were particularly mindful to characterize Blake as simply a witness and not a suspect.”

Leo J. Terrell, a civil rights attorney who has represented the family of a mentally ill homeless woman shot to death by a Los Angeles police officer, disputes the idea that all cases are handled with an equal degree of care.

“The district attorney’s office makes the biggest push to show that they handle all cases with care,” Terrell said. “But the truth of the matter is that more attention is given to these [celebrity] cases because of the political motivations of the district attorney’s office.

“Everything is scrutinized and reevaluated,” he said. “Prosecutors try to give the impression that this is how the system works in all cases.”

But intense scrutiny doesn’t always help a celebrity.

“I think it cuts both ways,” said criminal defense lawyer Gerald L. Chaleff, who represented Erik and Lyle Menendez during their first murder trial. They were convicted in a second trial of killing their Beverly Hills parents. “It puts added pressure on both sides.”