Do the names Robert Blake, Scott Peterson, and the Aryan Brotherhood sound familiar? Three California Western alums share firsthand experiences on the trials and tribulations of high-profile cases.
Just before 10 p.m. on May 4, 2001, Bonny Lee Bakley was found lying in the front seat of a sports car in Studio City, Calif., with a gunshot wound in her head. She and her husband of less than a year, Robert Blake, star of Baretta, Our Gang, and In Cold Blood, had been dining at Vitello’s Italian Restaurant around the corner that evening.
Blake says he found Bakley shot and maintained his innocence. The Los Angeles Police Department and district attorney's office didn't believe him and accused him of killing her. In a long, high-profile criminal trial replete with histrionics, outbursts, and legal showmanship, a jury found Blake not guilty of the murder charges. But that was not the end of the legal proceedings against Blake.
Bakley's family hired Eric Dubin '92 as their counsel in a wrongful death lawsuit against Blake in 2002. In this case, the jury awarded the family $30 million in damages after dramatic, and sometimes bizarre, testimony amid a media frenzy.
Dubin's experience shoved him into the spotlight of high-profile cases, complete with constant on-scene camera coverage, hundreds of television appearances, and interviews and recognition as one of the top lawyers in his field. He's one of three California Western alumni, including David Harris '86, who prosecuted Scott Peterson for murder, and Dean Steward '77, who defended the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, who have found themselves in the midst of public scrutiny that transforms a trial beyond its legal arguments, turning it into a spectacle which can make - or break - careers.
The Case "On My Tombstone"
The Blake trial helped make Dubin's career, and he came back to California Western in January to share his experiences with students. "This is the case that probably will be on my tombstone," he jokes. In fact, the case helped Dubin get recognition as one of California's top 20 lawyers by the Los Angeles Daily Journal legal newspaper.