Blake Defense Asks Judge to Delay Hearing
An attorney for Robert Blake and his co-defendant, Earle S. Caldwell, asked a judge Monday to delay until November a preliminary hearing in the celebrity murder case.
Attorneys say they cannot prepare an adequate defense without more time to read and analyze the 42,000 pages of evidence the prosecution has produced since their clients were arrested April 18 in connection with the shooting death of Blake’s wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. The defense received the latest installment--more than 7,000 pages--on Aug. 19.
Nonetheless, prosecutors have asked Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lloyd M. Nash to start the preliminary hearing within 10 days. Nash is expected to set a date today in Van Nuys.
“We don’t think they need a 90-day delay,” said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. “They don’t need every piece of evidence” to proceed with a preliminary hearing, she said.
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