Blake Faces a Murder Trial but Not Death

I can’t believe the district attorney’s decision not to seek the death penalty in the Robert Blake case (April 26). Blake allegedly committed a textbook capital murder case, with premeditation, conspiracy and lying in wait.

Was it because of his age? I don’t remember an age limit in that section of the penal code. Was it politically motivated, to avoid risking the loss of a high-profile case because some juror might vote not guilty to avoid having Blake sentenced to death? If so, then the D.A. just validated the “jury nullification” theory used in the O.J. Simpson case: The full force of the criminal justice system isn’t applied to society’s elite--just to the little people.

Nick Salicos

Seal Beach

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Re “Robert Blake: A Good Guy/Bad Guy Awaits the Role of a Lifetime,” Commentary, April 26: I found the bit on Blake’s resume by David Slavin and Bruce Kluger to be in poor taste. I can appreciate the satirical view of our celebrity trials. In fact, I very much regret the lack of satirical writing in general in this country. Unfortunately, we tend to take ourselves too seriously for satire to be popular. Nevertheless, we’re talking about murder here.

It seems to me that this piece, although amusing, does more to trivialize the crime than to poke fun at our obsession with celebrity.

Patrick I. O’Donnell

Escondido