Judge to Allow TV Cameras at Blake Hearing

Actor Robert Blake’s personal courtroom drama will be played out on television screens across the nation.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lloyd Nash ruled Thursday that Court TV and any other interested media outlet may televise Blake’s preliminary hearing live and gavel-to-gavel beginning Wednesday in Van Nuys. No one opposed the request.

Court TV officials said Thursday that they plan to fill daytime hours with as much live coverage of the Blake murder case as they can.

“We’re going to show a good portion of it live, gavel-to-gavel,” said Marlene Dann, senior vice president of Court TV daytime programming. Portions not shown live will be taped and televised later, she said.

Under court rules, Court TV will provide a live feed to other media outlets, although none asked for permission to televise, said Allan Parachini, a court spokesman.

The decision comes days after Blake’s first on-camera interview since his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, was fatally shot May 4, 2001, near a Studio City restaurant where they had dined. He talked to celebrity interviewer Barbara Walters in jail Monday over the objections of his latest criminal defense lawyer.

Although attorney Thomas A. Mesereau Jr. opposed the jailhouse interview, he did not object to televising the preliminary hearing, in which the judge will determine whether adequate evidence exists to try Blake for his wife’s slaying.

Prosecutors took no position on the media motion, citing Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley’s policy favoring public access to court proceedings.