The Lady is a Tramp

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The Lady Is a Tramp
by Robert Yoho, Associate Editor

April 30, 2002

"Eye on Conservatism"

Columnist Robert Yoho The late Bonny Bakley (AP) I recently overheard a couple of guys discussing the murder of Bonny Bakely (right). Instantly, I was outraged when one of them said, “I heard that Bakely woman was a real slut!”

There are times when I am just ashamed to be a man!

In their statement, they inadvertently hit upon the likely Blake defense strategy. Just like the O.J. Simpson trial, the defense attorneys will not confront the facts of the case. To do so would be a life sentence for Robert Blake as it would have been a death sentence for Simpson.

Moreover, I believe the prosecution’s decision to not seek the death penalty has already been influenced by the outcome of the Simpson case. The prosecutors believe they can get a “guilty” verdict only if they seek a lighter sentence.

I can already tell you what the defense strategy will be. Poor little Bobby Blake was an abused child and the lady was a tramp.

We have already heard the media reports about Blake’s abusive family. We have already seen the clips of little Bobby’s early appearances on “Little Rascals”. The defense attorneys are already seeking to poison any possible jury pool by persuading them that a cute little child like “Mickey” could not be responsible for such a heinous crime. There had to be some contributing factors. It must have been the woman!

Blake’s attorneys will put the woman’s reputation on trial as was done to Nicole Brown Simpson. Bonny Lee Bakely was a woman of ill repute who deserved her fate. That will be the defense in the press. It will also be the conclusion on the minds of many Americans, men and women

And that is unfortunate.

I wish somebody could please tell me why it is always the woman’s fault when she is murdered, harassed, or otherwise abused. The prevailing attitude seems to be that women deserve this kind of treatment.

“She was trying to get a book deal. The woman is trailer park trash. She was just after his money or power.”

I will not deny that this occasionally happens. However, that does not free Blake of the responsibility for his individual behavior. After all, he is the one who chose her.

I have no doubt that Bonny Lee Bakely would not have been confused with Mother Teresa. Maybe she wasn’t a role model, but that totally misses the point. A man of some wealth and fame committed a ghastly crime. And Bakely was a woman with an inherent right to live.

Perhaps their marriage was not everything that Blake hoped it would be, but there are legal options to end a bad union. He could have divorced her, but he valued his money more than her life.

Flawed though she may have been, Bonny Bakely deserved the full protection of the law. She did not take a life. Her death was not a case of self-defense. No matter what the woman did or didn’t do, she still had the right to live. And Robert Blake’s celebrity status gave him no legitimate moral or legal reason to deny her that right.

I do not care if the lady was a tramp. That line of thinking reveals that you have already fallen for the spin. The behavior of the woman does not mitigate whatever harm, abuses, or indignities she suffers.

So what if Blake had a bad childhood? Bonny Bakely knew hardship also. The woman never had the opportunities that Blake enjoyed. She never had Hollywood come calling when she was only a child. She never appeared in a feature film. She never knew what it was like to star in a popular weekly television series.

Robert Blake had successfully risen from the ashes of his miserable former life. But if he committed this crime, he willingly and deliberately denied the woman the one truly great thing that she had ever known: the chance to live another day.

Bonny Lee Bakely deserved to live; Robert Blake no longer does! ***

Photo of Robert Yoho courtesy of staff files
Photo of the late Bonny Lee Bakley courtesy of the Associated Press