Robert Blake Murder Trial Begins

Defense attorneys for Robert Blake are looking for jurors who may be open to conspiracy theories. Prosecutors, on the other hand, want people who use common sense and make quick decisions.

More than three years after Blake's wife was shot to death outside a San Fernando Valley restaurant, the selection process for more than 100 potential jurors was to begin Monday in the actor's murder trial.

Jury consultant Richard Gabriel, president of Decision Analysis, said the defense would be looking for people who are "sensational minded."

"You want people who are open to alternative theories, people who are conspiracy theorists, people who will nit pick the evidence and create their own reasonable doubt," he said.

Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson said the ideal defense jurors would be people who "love a good whodunit and want to find their own solutions."

On the prosecution side, Gabriel, who is not working on the case, said: "They are looking for quick decision makers, conservative people who will use common sense."

Blake, former star of the "Baretta" TV series and the movie "In Cold Blood," is charged with murdering his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, whom he married after DNA tests showed he was the father of her baby.

The 71-year-old actor has pleaded not guilty to murder, two counts of solicitation of murder and a special circumstance of lying in wait. Key witnesses are two elderly stuntmen who claim Blake asked them to murder his wife.

Bakley was killed on May 4, 2001, outside Vitello's restaurant where the couple had dined. Blake, who was not arrested until a year later, went to prison during his preliminary hearing. He was later released on $1.5 million bail and has been living under house arrest.

The trial is estimated to last about five months.