Blake Brings Second Lawyer on Board
May 16 -- Actor Robert Blake has added a second attorney to his legal team, bringing former Los Angeles police sergeant Barry Levin on board even though he has not been named as a suspect in the shooting death of his wife.
Levin joins Harland Braun, who Blake hired within hours of the death of his wife on May 4. Braun and Levin worked together representing two of the four Los Angeles Police Department officers charged with corruption in the Rampart police scandal.
Blake's wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, 45, was shot to death as she sat in the couple's car near a Studio City, Calif., restaurant, waiting for the 67-year-old actor, who said he had gone back to the restaurant to get a pistol he had forgotten there after the couple ate dinner.
Braun has kept such a high profile in the case, discussing Bakley's character and checkered past and urging police not to limit their investigation to Blake, that the LAPD issued a statement on Monday reminding him that "Bakley is not the one under investigation. She is the victim."
Though police say they have not identified a suspect in the case, some observers say Blake's decision to beef up his legal team is evidence that he is feeling pressure from the scrutiny.
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"I believe he is feeling the heat and anyone in his position I think would logically have to, because as many times as the police say either he's not the only suspect or there is no single suspect, clearly the spotlight and the microscope is beginning to close in on him," Southwestern University law professor Robert Pugsley said.
"I want the police to do a thorough and complete job," Levin said on Tuesday after touring the scene of the shooting.
Braun said he wanted Levin involved because he is a former police officer and has represented police officers.
Meanwhile, a lawyer representing Bakley's sister added his own version of the couple's stormy relationship, saying on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America that Bakley married the actor because she was afraid he would prevent her from seeing their daughter if she didn't.
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