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Jeffrey Toobin: Blake's defense tactics

CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin

NEW YORK (CNN) -- From the beginning, Robert Blake's defense attorney has said no direct evidence exists linking the actor to the killing last year of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.

Now lawyer Harlan Braun is floating a theory that police went after Blake because arresting a Hollywood star would be a career booster. He has provided CNN with taped evidence that he says proves his point.

CNN's Bill Hemmer discussed the strategy, and the tapes, with CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

HEMMER: How much of this is Harlan Braun just trying to cast a wide net of suspicion?

TOOBIN: Well, you know, he is actually following a fairly orderly process in a defense attorney kind of way. The first thing he did was trash the victim, talked about how Bonny Bakley had all of these problems in her past, how she was kind of a celebrity stalker, looking to become famous.

Now, he's doing virtually the same thing with the cops, saying the cops were trying to become famous. He has told me that this is sort of the ultimate Hollywood story. Everybody wants to be famous. Here you have the cops doing the same thing. That's the claim.

HEMMER: Can the attorney, Braun, make a point that he [the detective] is looking for public relations?

TOOBIN: He can try. There is other evidence that Harlan Braun has brought forward that actually on the day that the cops discovered Bonny Bakley's body, they were accompanied by a writer, who was doing a book about them. So they do have an interest in publicity. There is no question about that. The question is, also: So what?

... It all relates to the larger issue of putting the police on trial. Again, you know, the Simpson case, there's a rich history of that in Los Angeles, saying that the L.A. police were more interested in filling their pockets and becoming famous than finding the right person.

Again, a similar theme here, rush to judgment. You know, did they focus on Blake because he was a celebrity, as opposed to looking at other possible suspects? A little hard to make the rush-to-judgment argument when it took a year to arrest him, but still, the same agenda.

HEMMER: There will be an effort, we are told or led to believe, that the attorneys for Robert Blake will make it seem that Bonny Lee Bakley had a lot of enemies out there. Are they making that case?

TOOBIN: They're really not making that up. I mean, it is true that she led a life where she did make enemies. She had this sort of seedy business, where she got lonely men to send her money. The real issue, though, is they -- have yet, the defense, has yet to point to any specific person with any motive to kill Bonny Bakley, except for the man charged with the crime, Robert Blake.