Robert Blake

"Deja vu all over again," boomed malaprop-ing talk show host Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel during a Thursday evening of media ranting and hyperventilating after has-been actor Robert Blake had been taken into custody by Los Angeles police in connection with last year's murder of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. Yes, all over again, for hadn't the public walked this plank before when O.J. Simpson was charged with the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole, and Ron Goldman, en route to landing in a vast, turbulent sea of media frenzy?

"I want to go home," Thomas Robinson said as he climbed into his mother's arms, wrapped his tiny body around her torso and nuzzled his head against her neck. The 8-year-old, who stars with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman in "The Switch," was experiencing his first big movie premiere. It was nearing 10 p.m. at Hollywood's nouveau W Hotel on Monday, where a party was being held to celebrate the film's release. Well-groomed industry types abounded, sipping martinis, delicately eating shrimp skewers, taking smoke breaks on a dimly lighted patio.

Robert Blake's 35-year-old daughter won temporary guardianship Thursday of her baby half sister Rose, the child born of the actor and the woman he is accused of murdering. Delinah Blake pumped her fist and mouthed "Yes!" at the end of a brief hearing in a downtown Los Angeles courthouse, at which Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner H. Ronald Hauptman pronounced Rose Lenore Sophia Blake hers, at least for now.

The judge in the Stephanie Lazarus trial set bail for the LAPD detective accused of murder at $10 million Friday, saying he believed it was a "near certainty" she would flee if granted a lower amount. Lazarus, a 26-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, is accused of the 1986 bludgeoning and shooting death of a woman who had married Lazarus' former boyfriend. Lazarus, 49, was arrested earlier this year after LAPD cold-case detectives reexamined the killing and linked their colleague to it through a saliva sample that had been found in a bite mark on the victim.

"I want to go home," Thomas Robinson said as he climbed into his mother's arms, wrapped his tiny body around her torso and nuzzled his head against her neck. The 8-year-old, who stars with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman in "The Switch," was experiencing his first big movie premiere. It was nearing 10 p.m. at Hollywood's nouveau W Hotel on Monday, where a party was being held to celebrate the film's release. Well-groomed industry types abounded, sipping martinis, delicately eating shrimp skewers, taking smoke breaks on a dimly lighted patio.

Actor Robert Blake, who last year stood trial on both criminal and civil charges in connection with the 2001 slaying of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, filed for bankruptcy Friday. Blake has said publicly for months that he was broke as a result of his legal troubles. He was acquitted of murder charges in a criminal courtroom last March. However, a civil jury found in November that Blake had "intentionally caused" his wife's death and awarded her children $30 million in damages.

A Superior Court Judge on Monday set a bail hearing for actor Robert Blake for Wednesday. Blake has been held without bail at Men's Central Jail since his April 18 arrest in the death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.

A five-woman, 11-man panel of jurors was chosen Wednesday to consider the wrongful-death lawsuit brought against actor Robert Blake by the family of his slain wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. All 16 jurors will sit though the trial, and four of them will be chosen as alternates before deliberations begin. Opening statements are scheduled for this morning. A criminal murder trial concluded in March with Blake's acquittal.

Robert Blake, in his first role since he aborted his career in 1986, carves a distinctive comeback in "Judgment Day: The John List Story" (at 9 tonight on CBS, Channels 2 and 8).

Actor Robert Blake and his bodyguard were arrested Thursday in the shooting death of Blake's wife last May outside a restaurant in Studio City. The 68-year-old actor, best known for his role as a detective in the television series "Baretta," was in custody on suspicion of murder and could face the death penalty, police said. He had been questioned earlier about the slaying of Bonny Lee Bakley, but authorities Thursday said for the first time that he had been a suspect from the start.

Since the explosion of gossip blogs and the resurgence of celebrity magazines, L.A.'s courthouses have grown used to accommodating throngs of paparazzi, videographers, camera crews and reporters who trail the famous to their dates with infamy. But the crowd expected at this afternoon's preliminary hearing for R&B singer Chris Brown will be on a different order.

An appeals court Friday upheld a civil judgment holding actor Robert Blake responsible for his wife's death, but cut in half the $30 million he was ordered to pay her family. The 2nd District appellate court ruled Friday that Blake's attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach failed to show there had been a trial error in the wrongful-death suit. Schwartzbach had argued before the court in January that his client had not received a fair trial, citing juror misconduct and insufficient instruction given to the jury.

Robert Blake, the actor acquitted of his wife's murder, should not have to pay her survivors a $30-million civil court award because he did not get a fair trial, his lawyers told appellate judges Tuesday. "All we asked for was a fair trial, and it wasn't," M. Gerald Schwartzbach argued to the state 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles. "Celebrities have the same rights as anybody else. . . . Mr. Blake was denied that." Attorney Eric J.

High-profile Los Angeles trial attorneys told law students Thursday that lofty notions of jurisprudence, such as the presumption of innocence or burden of proof, are all well and good. But in defending clients, it's best to focus on how jurors actually think, they told a conference on celebrity justice at Loyola Law School.

Jurors in Robert Blake's civil trial discussed the cases of O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson, ignored the lack of evidence that Blake killed his wife and decided to "send a message that celebrities and rich people cannot get away with murder," the actor's attorney said in an appeal filed Wednesday. Blake's lawyer argued that the award of $30 million to the family of Bonny Lee Bakley in the wrongful-death case was the result of prejudice and jury misconduct and should be reversed.

Robert Blake won't be getting a new trial in the wrongful death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David M. Schacter on Monday denied the actor's motion to throw out the $30-million jury verdict. Blake, who was acquitted of Bakley's 2001 murder in criminal court, had accused jurors in the civil trial of misconduct. Attorney Eric J. Dubin, who represents Bakley's family, said the ruling "was absolutely fair."

As docket watchers wait breathlessly for the Robert Blake murder trial to begin, handicappers Bruce Kluger and David Slavin, who write satire for National Public Radio and Salon.com, began looking to the veteran actor's resume for clues to his innocence ... or guilt. *--* Movie/TV Show Role Good Guy or Bad Guy? (text of infobox not included) *--*

After a 12-week trial that ended with jurors saying they did not believe two Hollywood stuntmen central to the prosecution's case, actor Robert Blake was found not guilty Wednesday of fatally shooting his wife. Prosecutors "couldn't put the gun in his hand," said jury foreman Thomas Nicholson. "I felt the primary thing from what I saw was that the circumstantial evidence was flimsy."

Lawyers for Robert Blake asked a judge Monday to overturn a $30-million wrongful death verdict against the actor, saying jurors made the award out of disgust over the acquittals of celebrity defendants including O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson. Juror Jose Elias in a sworn statement said that some panelists viewed the Blake verdict as a way "to send a message that rich people and celebrities can't get away with causing someone's death." "Jurors talked about O.J.