Trial Questions Hint at Blake Jury’s Mind-Set

While deliberations in the wrongful-death lawsuit against Robert Blake are secret, jurors already have revealed flashes of what they think about the 2001 slaying of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.

During the two-month trial before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David M. Schacter, jurors submitted 35 questions for lawyers to put to the 72-year-old actor.

The questions ranged from religion -- did Blake know the names of the four Gospels? -- to skepticism about his rescue efforts the night of the murder -- why didn’t he use his wife’s cellphone to call 911?

Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Connor, who helped reform the system to allow juror input, said such questions are good for trials.

“They can provide a window into the jurors’ mind-set,” Connor said, “and give attorneys more control over the case because they have a chance to resolve misunderstandings.”

Blake was acquitted earlier this year of the May 4, 2001, slaying. The nine men and three women of the Burbank jury must decide whether it is more likely than not that the Emmy Award-winning actor is responsible for Bakley’s death and therefore should pay her children damages.

The Bakley family says Blake tried to hire two former Hollywood stuntmen to kill his wife so he could gain custody of their baby. When that failed, he pulled the trigger himself, they say.

Blake argued that he loved his wife and tried to extricate her from a sordid past that included a business in which she sent nude pictures of herself to lonely men whom she later swindled out of money. One of them could have wanted her dead, he suggested.

Bakley died on a Studio City street outside Vitello’s, a restaurant where the couple had just dined. Blake said he had gone back to the restaurant to retrieve his gun and returned to find Bakley slumped and bleeding in his sports car.

One juror wanted to know why Blake didn’t use his wife’s cellphone to call 911 instead of knocking on neighbors’ doors for help. Blake responded that he’d never known how to use a cellphone and didn’t even like the phone in his own home.

Another showed a healthy skepticism for Blake’s alibi.

“Mr. Blake, could you please demonstrate how you can pick up a gun off a seat using a sweatshirt, walk out of a restaurant (Vitello’s), then put the sweatshirt on your shoulder (as you say on the tape you did) and not notice that you no longer have the gun in the sweatshirt? The court has the rubber gun that could be used in the demonstration. Just curious.”

Blake was able to name the four Gospels -- but said he preferred the Old Testament.

A juror wondered why his wife’s adult children were barred from her funeral. The actor responded that his lawyers had handled the arrangements.

About half of the questions -- 17 -- sought clarification of the actor’s eight days of testimony.

Jurors wanted to know why Blake failed to call police if, as he told them, he noticed suspicious people in his San Fernando Valley neighborhood and became concerned for his family’s safety. Blake said he hired a bodyguard.

Other questions shifted the focus to Bakley.

“Did your mother ever say that some day she would like to change the way she was making a living?” one juror asked Bakley’s daughter, Holly Gawron.

Deliberations, which began Friday, resume Monday.