TV Access to Blake Trial Limited

The judge in actor Robert Blake’s murder case Friday barred television cameras from most of the high-profile trial despite requests from media outlets for gavel-to-gavel coverage.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Darlene E. Schempp signed an order permitting television cameras to broadcast only the opening statements, closing arguments and verdict in the celebrity murder trial. She has allowed still cameras at all times.

Media lawyers have filed a motion to contest the ruling. Neither Blake’s lawyers nor the prosecution oppose televising the trial. Three television networks, along with CNN and Court TV, have sought permission to televise the trial.

Schempp’s ruling means that only a small portion of the trial -- which is expected to last from four to six months -- may be televised.

Blake, 70, is set to begin trial Feb. 17 for allegedly killing his 44-year-old wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, after they had dined at a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001.

The judge’s announcement came during a pretrial hearing that may offer a preview of the contentious relationships among lawyers in the case.

Prosecutors accused Blake’s defense team of intentionally trying to divert their resources in the three weeks before trial with dozens of last-minute document requests. And the defense responded with allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie L. Samuels complained that Blake’s defense team was seeking irrelevant documents, including copies of news releases distributed by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office about the case and the juvenile arrest record of a 63-year-old witness, as “just another way to keep us busy.”

She called attorney Thomas A. Mesereau Jr.’s list of 818 potential witnesses -- which includes actors Martin Landau, Ed Begley Jr. and Beverly D’Angelo -- “ludicrous [and] ridiculous.”

Samuels told the judge she did not know anything about 170 of those witnesses and had not received statements about them. Mesereau blamed her failure to recognize the names on her unfamiliarity with the details of the massive investigation.

Mesereau said he planned to file motions next week alleging prosecutorial misconduct in the handling of evidence at an out-of-state laboratory, where prosecutors recently sent clothing for additional forensic tests.

Meanwhile, this week, the defense attorney filed motions seeking to exclude evidence, including statements by three witnesses at the crime scene who told authorities that they believed Blake acted strangely the night his wife was fatally shot.

Mesereau also sought to keep jurors from hearing testimony from witnesses who said that Bakley feared her husband would kill her, and that she believed Blake and his handyman, Earle S. Caldwell, had plotted to kill her during a camping trip.

The defense also asked the judge to exclude taped telephone conversations between Bakley and Blake in which the actor threatened her, as well as allegations of domestic violence in Blake’s first marriage to actress Sondra Kerr, which ended in 1982.