The message in the Blake verdict

I am the attorney who represented Robert Blake in the criminal trial that resulted in his acquittal. I am writing in response to The Times’ Nov. 19 article, “Blake Held Responsible for Slaying.” The article contains an unfair statement: “The verdict by the Burbank jury [in the civil trial that concluded on Nov. 18] was a rebuff to a Van Nuys criminal jury, which acquitted Blake in March of murder charges.”

The verdict in the civil case was certainly not “a rebuff.” Aside from the fact that the civil trial involved a lower burden of proof [a fact later noted in the article], immediately after rendering their verdict, the jurors in the civil case were asked by a reporter, “Do you as a jury think that he pulled the trigger, or do you think that he just caused her death?” The responses included: “To this point, who knows?” and “We’re not sure.”

The jury in the criminal case was asked to determine whether it had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Blake personally shot his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. To that question, the jurors in the civil trial responded: “Who knows?” and “We’re not sure.”

Based upon these responses, it is clear that the civil jury would also have acquitted Blake in the criminal trial.

M. GERALD SCHWARTZBACH

Mill Valley, Calif.