Robert Blake

Actor who played the lead in the tv show Baretta for many years, although chances are this was before your time. When he was a kid, Blake was a child star on the old Little Rascals black and white short films. That's even before my time.

Update 02.07.03: He was also accused of either murdering his own wife or having had her murdered by someone else. Rather sad, really.

Update 11.29.05: avalyn points out that "He was acquitted of the murder charge, although his wife's family has engaged him in a civil suit for her wrongful death. The civil suit is currently ongoing." This sounds familiar.

After posting a $1.5 million Bail Bond, Robert Blake is free after spending 11 months in jail and will now be tried for the murder of his wife.

I remember reading In Cold Blood as if it were yesterday, although it was approximately 40 years ago. It was one of those page turners that you can't put down until it's finished and I didn't. A book by Truman Capote, it tells the true story of the horrific murder of the Clutter family on a Kansas farm in 1959. In 1967 it was made into a movie starring Robert Blake and Scott Wilson who play the two killers. The movie was nominated for four oscars and in real life the killers were convicted of the crime and hanged.

Now Robert Blake faces trial for the murder of his wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley and though hanging is no longer the means to an end when it comes to the death penalty, Blake could face the chair or lethal injection.

Obviously, it won't last as long as the O.J. trial, but it could prove just as interesting. Or not.