The Alternative Science of the Robert Blake Criminal Trial

Authors: Bryan R Burnett*

DOI: 10.23880/ijfsc-16000399

Volume 9, Issue 3

Abstract

Robert Blake, former television and movie star, was accused of shooting his wife, Bonnie Bakley, twice while she was sitting in the front passenger seat of their car. The shots came from outside the car while Blake alleged he was not present. There were no witnesses to the shooting. Blake stated to the police that upon returning to his car, he had sat on the driver’s seat before realizing his wife had been shot. Blake was taken into custody by the police, his hands GSR sampled, and released. There were no measures taken by the police to protect Blake’s hands or clothing from gunshot residue (GSR) contamination while he was in the police environment (police car and station). Blake had on his person a .38 caliber pistol at the time of the homicide that was not the murder weapon, but also a potential source of GSR contamination to his hands and clothing. The clothing Blake allegedly wore when the shooting occurred, was later collected by the police from Blake at his home (i.e., there was a break in the evidence chain). The clothing had been placed in an open cardboard box in the trunk of a police car for 48 h before proper packaging but was sampled and analyzed for GSR anyway. The evidence of Blake’s hands and clothing was presented in court by the prosecution, despite all the samplers being negative for GSR, alleging that they were inculpatory. Even if the GSR analyses found significant concentrations of GSR on any of these samples, it would have had no probative value. Errors were made interpreting the spectra from the scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray analyses.

Keywords: Gunshot Residue; Scanning Electron Microscopy/Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy; Actor Robert Blake; Bonnie Bakley; Homicide; Walther P38 Luger; Steve Dowell; Junk Science

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