Blake to Talk With Barbara Walters

Actor Robert Blake will get his wish: a chance to defend himself on national television.

Celebrity interviewer Barbara Walters will talk to Blake in jail Monday -- providing just the sort of exposure that led to the resignation of two of Blake’s lawyers, who said it would compromise his defense against the charge he killed his wife.

Blake’s current attorneys said they have an understanding with Walters that the criminal case will not be discussed. The former “Baretta” star wants to talk about his life in an attempt to repair the damage done to his public image in the two years since his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, was shot to death in Studio City.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca had blocked prior jail interviews, but he said Friday that he was swayed by Walters’ argument that she had conducted jail interviews in the past. Baca, in reversing his decision, said he didn’t realize that camera crews had access to the jail and its celebrity inmates before he took office.

“It had been done before and did not cause a great headache to the system,” Baca said. “I thought I should allow it.”

Blake has tried to set up interviews with Walters and her colleague Diane Sawyer for months, despite the objections of his criminal defense attorneys. First Harland W. Braun and then Jennifer L. Keller quit because he refused to follow their advice to stay silent.

His current lawyer, Thomas A. Mesereau Jr., said Friday he would stand by Blake even though he strongly disagrees with his client’s decision.

“I am opposed to Mr. Blake making any statement, and I refuse to authorize any interview,” Mesereau said. “However, Mr. Blake is an innocent man who needs my help, and I will never abandon him.”

Mesereau said he spoke to Baca this week, but refused to sign off on the Walters interview. It later was authorized by Chuck Meyer, Blake’s business lawyer. Meyer said he shares Mesereau’s reservations and discussed the matter with Blake.

But Blake decided to do the interview anyway.

“He wants to get his story out,” Meyer said. “He wants to counter the image of him as the villain. We are not going to stop it. It’s his life.”

An ABC spokesman declined to comment, except to say the interview was being taped for a future edition of “20/20.”

Blake has been held without bail at Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles since his arrest on April 18 in Hidden Hills. The 69-year-old actor faces life in prison on charges that he ambushed and fatally shot Bakley on May 4, 2001, in his car after they had dinner together. He is also charged with soliciting two stunt men to kill her.

A preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 26, when a judge will determine whether enough evidence exists for the case to go to trial.

Braun announced his intention to quit the case in October after learning that Blake’s entertainment lawyer, Barry Felsen, wrote a letter asking the Sheriff’s Department to permit an ABC news crew to videotape a Sawyer interview that never took place.

Mesereau and Keller took over the case in November, and Keller quit two months later. At the time, when Blake was arranging to talk to Walters, Keller said: “If I had been told that he was going to speak out, I would never have taken the case.”

Even Mesereau threatened to quit last month unless Blake stopped talking during a deposition that was being videotaped in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed on behalf of Rosie, the young daughter of Blake and Bakley.

During the deposition, Blake made clear his intention to speak out about his life. He blamed Mesereau for trying to keep him quiet against his will.

“I’m an old man,” the actor had said. “I’m pushing 70. If I’m going to die in that box, I want to talk before I go. I want Rosie to see who her daddy is.”