Blake Jury Rehears Stuntman Story
The jury in the Robert Blake murder trial reviewed more witness testimony Tuesday in its effort to decide if the actor killed his wife.
It was the second time the jurors heard testimony read back. They adjourned at the end of their seventh full day of deliberations and are to resume Wednesday.
The latest request involved statements by a retired stuntman who claimed Blake solicited him to kill Bonny Lee Bakley. The jury wanted to hear about a criminal case he recently settled with a plea bargain.
The jury also reviewed the statements of author Miles Corwin about his book, "Homicide Special: A Year with the LAPD's Elite Detective Unit." Corwin was with detectives as they investigated the killing.
Blake, 71, is accused of killing Bakley, 44, who was shot to death in 2001 near a restaurant where the two had just dined. Prosecutors say he killed Bakley after allegedly failing to get others to do it for him.
Wednesday will be the eighth full day of deliberations.
A week ago, the jury asked for and received a re-reading of testimony from three people at the restaurant - Blake's favorite, in Studio City - where Blake and Bakley had dinner before she was shot and killed in May 2001.
That readback included the testimony of restaurant co-owner Steve Restivo, who testified Blake seemed to be acting normally during dinner.
The jury also reheard the testimony by a couple who live near the restaurant.
The couple testified they noticed Blake and later saw him alone, hurrying past them as they walked home along the same street where Blake's car was parked. They said he crossed the street in the direction of the car, but that they heard and saw nothing afterward.
Blake is charged with murder, two counts of solicitation of murder and a special circumstance of lying in wait.
Blake claims someone else killed Bakley when he left her in his car to retrieve a gun he'd left at the restaurant. The .38-caliber revolver was not used to kill Bakley; the murder weapon was found in a nearby trash bin.
If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Blake has had a long career as an actor, beginning when he was a pre-schooler, with hundreds of movie and TV credits including the role of Mickey in the 1930s and 1940s kids comedy film series "Our Gang," which was re-run for decades on television.
He won critical acclaim for his portrayal of a killer in the 1967 film "In Cold Blood." After starring in the 1970s cops and robbers series "Baretta," Blake signed on for the TV series "Hell Town," playing a big city priest - a role the public did not buy, and a flop he took fairly hard.
His last screen role was in 1997, in "Lost Highway."