Robert Blake

The jury also acquitted Blake, the 71-year-old star of the 1970s TV detective series Baretta, of one charge of trying to get someone to kill Bonny Lee Bakley but deadlocked on a second solicitation charge. The jury voted 11-1 in favor of acquittal and the judge dismissed the count.

Blake was charged with shooting Bakley, 44, in their car outside the actor's favorite Italian restaurant in Los Angeles on May 4, 2001, less than six months after their marriage.

The four-month trial was part of a wave of celebrity court cases in California that has provided endless fodder for the tabloids and cable television networks. The Michael Jackson child molestation trial was starting just as the Blake case was wrapping up, and rock 'n' roll producer Phil Spector will stand trial later this year in Los Angeles for allegedly murdering a B-movie actress.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 26, 2005
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