In a pre-emptive maneuver, the prosecutor in the Robert Blake murder case warned prospective jurors Tuesday they would hear that the actor’s slain wife was “not Mother Teresa” and that some people may have thought she deserved to be killed.
Prosecutor Shellie Samuels repeatedly asked the potential jurors if they could convict Blake even if they wind up disliking Bonny Lee Bakley.
“If you really thought she was a scuzz, could you still convict him of killing her?” she asked one man.
“If the facts showed he killed her, I could,” said the man, who was retained for the jury pool.
To another prospective juror, Samuels declared: “There will be evidence in this case that Bonny Bakley was not Mother Teresa. She had quite a bit of baggage, an unsavory person, she was scummy.”
By day’s end, the pool of prospective jurors had risen to 23. Dozens are expected to be added before lawyers begin using peremptory challenges to select the final jury.
Blake, 71, is charged with murder in the 2001 slaying of Bakley, who was shot in a car outside a restaurant where they had dined. Prosecutors have suggested Blake wanted out of the marriage; he married her after she gave birth to his daughter.
He could get life in prison. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
Samuels also told the prospective jurors that she will be presenting only circumstantial evidence. She said there were no fingerprints, no DNA and no eyewitnesses.
Defense attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach focused on the influence of other high-profile cases and media attention on jurors. The prospective jurors insisted they would not be swayed by the media, but many acknowledged they had extensive information on other cases.