A judge has banned Robert Blake's defense team from linking Marlon Brando's son Christian Brando to the murder of Blake's wife Bonny Lee Bakley. Former Baretta star Blake is currently awaiting trial, charged with Bakley's 2001 murder. The actor's attorney M Gerald Schwartzbach wanted to present to jurors a theory that others, including 46-year-old Brando, conspired to kill Bakley. But Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp on Thursday ruled Schwartzbach cannot do so. She said, "I've found there was no link, direct or circumstantial, with Mr Brando. It's pure speculation." The judge had already ruled out as evidence a tape recording of a phone call between Bakley and Brando - who is a leading prosecution witness in the trial - during which he said she was lucky someone didn't put a bullet through her head. Brando was angry Bakley had led him to believe he was the father of her child, when in fact Blake was. Schwatzbach is also banned from asking another witness, Ronald 'Duffy' Hambleton, if he conspired to kill Bakley on behalf of Brando. Blake, 71, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Bakley, 44. He told police he found her dead in his car after returning to a restaurant to retrieve a gun he carried for protection. Jury selection for the trial will begin on November 15 - the trial is expected to last four months.
- 10/25/2004
- WENN
A stuntman testified on Tuesday how Robert Blake boasted he could fool police with his acting skills and deny he killed his wife. Veteran Hollywood stuntman Ronald 'Duffy' Hambleton said former Baretta star Blake proposed that the stuntman kill Bonny Lee Bakley while the actor and wife walked to or from a Studio City, California, restaurant. Hambleton told Deputy District Attorney Greg Dohi, "The first thing that came to mind was what's he going to be doing... when someone is 'mugging' your wife? His response was, 'Don't worry about that, I'm an actor.'" The 66-year-old stuntman testified Blake proposed murder in March 2001 but Hambleton didn't tell cops about it until November 2001 - six months after Bakley's murder. Hambleton explained, "I wasn't for sure (that Blake was serious). It was more a feeling of hope that it was b.s." Prosecutors also introduced a suspicious note found in the car of Blake's bodyguard and co-defendant Earle Caldwell. Police found a piece of crumpled yellow writing paper inside Caldwell's Jeep, containing a list of items that included two shovels, a .25-caliber gun, lye, pool acid, old rugs and black colored duct tape. A Los Angeles Police Department detective testified that Caldwell admitted he wrote the list.
- 3/7/2003
- WENN
Retired Hollywood stuntman Ronald Hambleton testified that fear of reprisals from former pal Robert Blake made him delay telling investigators that the actor had solicited him to kill his wife. Hambleton appeared in court in California on Monday afternoon to reveal the former Baretta star tried to arrange for the contract killing of his wife Bonny Lee Bakley through a series of phone calls. The stuntman told the court that Blake "wanted to know basically what it was going to cost him for my services." He acknowledged that when investigators first questioned him he withheld the information for "fear of reprisal, not only against myself, but family members, including my grandchildren. I finally made up my mind that telling it like it is was probably the proper and right thing to do." Blake, who has been in prison for 11 months, is charged with the murder of his wife. She was shot in the head outside a restaurant where the two had just dined. The actor insists he's not guilty.
- 3/5/2003
- WENN
The evidence is piling up against troubled actor Robert Blake, who will be back in court in Los Angeles next week charged with murdering his wife Bonny Lee Bakley last year. Stuntmen Gary McClarty and Ronald Duffy Hambleton, who worked with Blake on his hit TV show "Baretta", have come forward claiming the actor tried to hire them for a hit. Blake's attorney Harlan Braun is dismissing the claims of the stuntmen, questioning why they didn't come forward sooner.
- 4/25/2002
- WENN
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