Blake’s Wife Told of a Stalker, Tape Shows

About five months before her murder, Bonny Lee Bakley told her husband, Robert Blake, that a man had stalked her in the past, according to Blake’s attorney, who on Friday released a brief portion of a recorded conversation between the couple.

“This crazy, jealous guy was, like, stalking me and I didn’t know it,” Bakley told Blake in the telephone conversation.

Blake’s attorney, Harland Braun, said the tape was provided to him by prosecutors as part of the evidence turned over to the defense before trial.

Blake is accused of killing his wife, who was fatally shot near a Studio City restaurant in May 2001. He has pleaded not guilty to murder, two counts of soliciting murder and conspiracy with the special-circumstance allegation of lying in wait. He faces life in prison without parole if convicted.

Braun said the tape shows that another man could have been attempting to do harm to Bakley. Since the shooting, Braun has said that many men had a motive for killing Bakley, a grifter who promised lonely men sex and nude photos in exchange for money.

“The tape of her complaining about a stalker is absolutely concrete corroboration from her that she was afraid of something, and that something was not Robert Blake,” Braun said.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, said Friday that such evidence should be presented in court. “Mr. Braun’s efforts would be better spent preparing for a preliminary hearing rather than waving red herrings,” she said.

On Friday, Braun also released a conversation he said Bakley had with Christian Brando, who warned her that she should be careful about soliciting money from men. Braun said the conversation raises questions about whether police should have further investigated Brando, the son of actor Marlon Brando.

“You better get a handle on that and really think what you’re doing, running around sending letters to guys, embezzling money from all these idiots,” Christian Brando told Bakley over the phone, according to the tape. “You’re lucky, you know, I mean not on my behalf, but you’re lucky somebody ain’t out there to put a bullet in your head.”

Bakley originally claimed her child was fathered by Christian Brando, who served five years in prison for shooting his half sister’s boyfriend. Tests eventually showed that Blake was the father.