Robert Blakes Lawyer Defects

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According to Foxnews.com

Blake's Lawyer Defects Due to Irreconcilable Differences



Thursday, February 05, 2004


LOS ANGELES ? The judge in Robert Blake's (search) murder trial agreed Thursday to remove defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. due to "irreconcilable differences" between the lawyer and his client.



The action by Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp forces an indefinite postponement in the actor's trial. She set a hearing for Feb. 23 at which time she hoped a new lawyer would have been chosen.

Jury selection had been expected to enter its final phase Feb. 17.

Blake, 70, is charged with shooting his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley (search), 44, to death as she sat in a car outside Vitello's Italian restaurant in Studio City where the two had just had dinner in 2001.

The former star of TV's "Baretta" (search) told authorities he left Bakley alone in the car to retrieve a gun he carried for protection and had accidentally left behind in the restaurant. He said he returned to find her mortally wounded.