Robert Blake Jury Still Struggling

Except for one request for a readback of testimony, there hasn't been a hint of what's on the minds of the jurors considering the charge that actor Robert Blake murdered his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.

Tuesday will be the seventh full day of deliberations.

The jury, which had the weekend off, gave its only sign of life last Wednesday, when it asked for and received a re-reading of testimony from three people at the restaurant where Blake and Bakley had dinner before she was shot and killed in May 2001.

Blake, 71, is accused of killing his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, 44, who was shot near Blake's favorite Italian restaurant in Studio City.

The jury spent much of Wednesday reviewing the statements of restaurant co-owner Steve Restivo, who testified Blake seemed to be acting normally during dinner.

The jury also reviewed 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.

Also Wednesday, Judge Darlene Schempp admonished a reporter from People magazine, whom the judge said approached four jurors during a break to give them her business card. The reporter said she thought it was permissible to simply make contact.

"Don't come near that jury again," the judge said.

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."