Blake’s Grief Didn’t Seem Genuine, Witness Testifies

A woman testified Tuesday that Robert Blake acted oddly the night his wife was killed, becoming the latest in a string of prosecution witnesses who said the actor never comforted her as she lay dying.

Blake, 71, is on trial in Van Nuys for murder in the shooting of Bonny Lee Bakley, 44, his wife of six months and mother of his youngest child. She was shot in Blake’s car on May 4, 2001, near the Studio City restaurant where they had dined.

The witness, Mary Beth Rennie, testified she was walking with a friend that night when she saw Blake seated on a curb and wailing.

“It didn’t seem genuine or real,” Rennie testified. “It was frantic but something didn’t feel right.”

Blake also is charged with soliciting two Hollywood stuntmen to kill Bakley.

The prosecution maintains that Blake killed his wife after the stuntmen refused.

The Emmy Award-winning actor, best known for the 1970s television series “Baretta,” faces life in prison if convicted.

Two firefighters who tried to revive Bakley testified that Blake didn’t go near his wife as she lay mortally wounded.

Los Angeles Fire Capt. Lawrence Jackson and firefighter Andrew Thomas Carter both testified that Blake did not ask to accompany Bakley to the hospital.

A co-owner of Vitello’s, Steve Restivo, said Blake was “normal, friendly” while he was eating his favorite pasta dish at the restaurant with Bakley shortly before her slaying.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie L. Samuels said Blake despised Bakley and her family and would do anything to gain sole custody of their 4-year-old daughter, Rosie.

But Blake’s lawyer, M. Gerald Schwartzbach, said the case lacks physical evidence linking Blake to the killing. He also attacked the credibility of the stuntmen and accused Los Angeles police of negligence.