Blake Brings Second Lawyer on Board

May 16, 2001 -- 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.

An Insider on the Team

"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.

Victimizing the Victim

Cary Goldstein was also critical of Braun's style, saying he was trying to "taint" the jury pool in case his client is charged in the killing.

"He's educating them as to what he wants them to believe, how he wants them to react," Goldstein said.

He indicated that Blake was psychologically abusive of Bakley, who Braun has painted as a woman only interested in becoming a celebrity bride.

On tapes Bakley allegedly made of her telephone conversations, which Braun released this week, she is heard discussing whether it would be better to "go after" Blake, Christian Brando or even Marlon Brando. Braun has said that Bakley only had a child in order to pressure Blake to marry her.

According to Goldstein, Bakley went to the police in October accusing Blake of kidnapping their daughter, and even after the couple married in November, the actor severely limited the amount of time she could spend with the child.

"She was afraid that Blake would take custody of the child," Goldstein said. "He was already keeping the child from her and only allowing her to see the child on a couple of occasions since then, for one hour at a time in the presence of bodyguards."

Though he did not deny any of Braun's allegations that Bakley made a career out of defrauding lonely men out of money and selling naked pictures of herself, he said Blake's attorney should not be carrying out such a vigorous assault on the character of the victim.

"It has no relevance to the matter," he said. "There's nothing that Leebonny [one of Bakley's aliases] ever did in her lifetime that justifies the fact that she was murdered."

LAPD: Let Us Work

Garrett Zimmon, the commanding officer of Detective Services in the LAPD, said Monday night that Braun's constant talking to the media and leaks from within the department were interfering with the ability of police to solve the crime.

He also criticized Braun for his assaults on Bakley's character. The lawyer has said he felt he needed to bring out details about Bakley's past to spur police to look beyond Blake for potential suspects in the case.

"We must remember that Bonny Lee Bakley is not the one under investigation. She is the victim," Zimmon said. "We need to be sensitive to that."

Zimmon said leaks, such as a report that police had found the murder weapon in a garbage bin near the site of the shooting, make it harder for detectives to do their jobs.

"It is not appropriate to comment on items that have been or have not been taken into evidence or witnesses who have been or have not been interviewed," he said. "To do so takes away our responsibility to fully and completely conduct an investigation and may, in fact, be harmful to the case."

According to police sources, there was still one bullet in the gun, a Walther handgun described as a collector's item, which matched the two bullets used to kill Blake's wife.

Blake, who said he had gone back to the restaurant to get a handgun he forgot when the couple left after dinner, is a gun collector. The Walther, a gun that used to be carried by German army officers, was not registered to him.

Blake, who says he was carrying a gun to protect his wife, said he found her wounded when he returned to the car. Bakley was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

Born Michael Gubitosi, Blake began his acting career at age 5, appearing in MGM's Our Gang series. He was featured in a number of films, including The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and In Cold Blood, but is best known for the 1970s cop show Baretta.