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Robert Blake Appeals to Higher Power
If at first you don't succeed, dust yourself off and try again.
So theorizes Robert Blake's attorney, who announced Monday that he has filed a motion to appeal the $30 million wrongful-death verdict a civil jury handed down against his client in November.
M. Gerald Schwartzbach, who won an acquittal for Blake during his criminal trial last year but did not defend him during the civil case, filed a notice with California's 2nd District Court of Appeals.
The Blake camp's first attempt to toss out that substantial verdict came last month when it moved for a retrial of the wrongful-death lawsuit brought against the Baretta star by the family of his late wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Schacter denied the motion Apr. 10.
In requesting a new trial, Schwartzbach and Blake's civil attorney, Peter Ezzell, allege juror misconduct leading up to the 2005 decision to really stick it to Blake financially, saying that the jury's intention was to make an example of their client and "send a message" saying celebrities can't get away scot-free if they commit crimes. So, they put Blake in O.J. Simpson territory--criminal acquittal, hefty civil judgment.
And as we know, that didn't do much for Simpson's reputation, such as it was at that point. Simpson's appeal to overturn the $33.5 million wrongful-death judgment against him was denied back in 2001.
Schwartzbach, who said last month that he was shocked by Judge Schacter's decision to let the verdict stand, stated today that he would definitely bring up juror misconduct in his appeal and would pore over the entire transcript of Blake's civil trial.
"There's no question in my mind that Robert was denied a fair trial because of egregious juror misconduct and rulings by the trial judge [Judge Schacter]," Schwartzbach told the Associated Press. "I believe that once the court of appeals has the opportunity to look at the record, the judgment will be set aside."
Since his acquittal on a murder charge in March 2005, Blake has been waiting for a judge to give him the figurative thumbs-up. About a week before he was denied a new civil trial, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Geraldine Mund terminated the 72-year-old actor's bankruptcy filling, which had so far prevented him from having to shell out any damages.
Blake has claimed for the past several years that he's broke from paying legal fees, and legal analysts have said that it's unlikely the Bakley family will ever see any sum resembling $30 million. Bakley's kids turned down a $250,000 settlement Blake offered them when they filed the wrongful-death suit in 2002.
Bakley was killed in May 2001 while sitting in a car parked outside of a San Fernando Valley restaurant.
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