3rd Testifies Blake Wanted Wife Killed

The drama of the Robert Blake murder trial heightened Wednesday when Ronald “Duffy” Hambleton became the third witness in three days to testify that the actor wanted his wife dead.

Hambleton, 68, testified that Blake suggested eight scenarios for killing Bonny Lee Bakley, including one outside Vitello’s, the Studio City restaurant near which she was fatally shot two months after Blake raised the subject with Hambleton.

On Monday, stuntman Gary “Whiz Kid” McLarty testified that Blake outlined four plans to ambush a woman -- whom McLarty interpreted to be Blake’s wife -- and that Blake offered him $10,000 to carry out the deed.

And Frank Minucci, a street hoodlum turned New York preacher, on Tuesday testified that Blake wanted to “annihilate” Bakley and suggested that a blank check awaited Minucci if he came to California to kill the woman Blake called a “pig.”

On the witness stand in a Van Nuys courtroom, Hambleton testified that he drove more than 100 miles from his Lucerne Valley ranch to meet with Blake at a Studio City diner in March 2001, believing that it was about movie work. But that, he said, quickly became “a secondary issue.”

The men got into Blake’s car, the witness said, and drove in his neighborhood, stopping in the alley behind Vitello’s, two blocks from where Bakley would be killed May 4, 2001.

Hambleton, like McLarty and Minucci before him, said Blake hated Bakley because the actor believed she had trapped him into marriage by becoming pregnant. The couple married in November 2000. Their daughter, Rosie, is now 4.

Hambleton testified that Blake initially suggested three scenarios for how his 44-year-old wife could be killed as he and Bakley made their way to Vitello’s by car or on foot.

Hambleton said Blake suggested yet another ambush scenario -- Hambleton could hide in Blake’s van in a nearby parking lot and “take care of business” when Blake and Bakley left the restaurant.

Hambleton also testified that the actor talked about having Bakley “popped” in the guest house on Blake’s property, where she stayed. Hambleton said that when he told Blake that he wanted no part of the scheme, the actor responded: “Well, if you’re not going to do it, then I sure as hell am.”

Blake, 71, faces life in prison if convicted of murdering his wife and of two counts of soliciting her murder. The actor told police that his wife was shot as he was retrieving his revolver from Vitello’s, where they had eaten dinner.

He posted $1.5-million bond nearly two years ago and has been under house arrest since.

Hambleton said Blake suggested other locations for the killing, including near the Grand Canyon; in Laughlin, Nev.; and as the couple camped in Jawbone Canyon, which is north of Mojave, Calif., in the Sierra foothills.

The day of his arrest -- April 18, 2002 -- in Hidden Hills, Blake was wearing a white sweatshirt with the words, “I survived Jawbone Canyon.”

In most of the plots, Hambleton said, the Emmy Award-winning actor wanted to be present at the crime scene. He said that Blake told him: “Don’t worry about it. I’m an actor, you know, I’ll take care of it.”

Hambleton said he tried to persuade Blake to consider alternatives for getting rid of Bakley, such as “buying his way out” of the marriage with a divorce settlement.

The stuntman said that as he continued to meet with Blake he became concerned about his own safety and that of his family.

On cross-examination, Blake’s lawyer, M. Gerald Schwartzbach, questioned why Hambleton did not report Blake’s intentions to authorities before Bakley was killed. Hambleton said he did not contact police because he wanted to “get out of it any way I could.”

Schwartzbach also suggested that Hambleton told Blake to get a younger man to do the killing. Hambleton denied the accusation.

Schwartzbach repeatedly attacked the witness’ credibility, getting the stuntman to admit to a run-in with the law.

Hambleton recently pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of brandishing a weapon and was sentenced to 90 days in jail in San Bernardino County. In that incident, which occurred in 1999, Hambleton called 911, believing that his ranch was under siege by 20 armed gunmen. Police said there were no gunmen. Hambleton testified that he stopped using methamphetamine after the incident.

Schwartzbach has tried to discredit Hambleton’s and McLarty’s testimony by focusing on their illicit drug use and its impact on their minds.

Hambleton, however, offered a detailed account of his conversations with Blake, even recalling that the actor had pancakes for lunch -- a detail corroborated by a credit card receipt for the meal.

The witness also led police to a critical piece of evidence, records from a prepaid telephone card that documents 56 calls from Blake’s home to the stuntmen and others.

Hambleton said the last time that he spoke to Blake was hours before Bakley was shot.

He said the actor called him to confirm that calls made with the phone card could not be traced.