Robert Blake files for bankruptcy

Actor Robert Blake, who last year stood trial on both criminal and civil charges in connection with the 2001 murder 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. (The civil case had a lower burden of proof than the criminal one.)

In the filing, Blake listed as his biggest liabilities the $30 million judgment along with a $1,274,783 federal tax bill and a $334,337 state tax assessment. He also listed as a creditor his civil attorney, Peter Ezzell, whom he owes $7,903. Blake declared his assets to be in the range of $100,001 to $500,000.

Ezzell said Friday that he had capped his legal fees at $250,000 plus costs and written off thousands more to help his financially troubled client. Ezzell said he was convinced that Blake was financially destitute. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have written off $200,000 in fees,” he said.

However, Eric Dubin, the attorney who won the judgment for the family of Bakley at the civil trial, was not convinced. “The concept of Robert Blake doing everything he can to avoid paying was highly anticipated,” Dubin said. “And we’re ready for it.”

Dubin said Blake had sold two homes in the last few years. He wouldn’t estimate what he thought the former actor was still worth, but he said, “Robert Blake has a lot of different corporations – different names – so his assets are pretty spread out in various entities.”