Transcripts About Stuntman Reread

Jurors in the Robert Blake murder trial in Van Nuys asked Tuesday to review testimony about a retired stuntman who said the actor tried to hire him to kill his wife.

The panel wanted to review portions of the testimony of the stuntman, Ronald “Duffy” Hambleton, and author Miles Corwin’s account of how Los Angeles authorities briefly considered trying to use weapons charges against Hambleton to persuade the stuntman to assist in their murder investigation.

Jurors then asked to hear more of Corwin’s testimony, given at Blake’s trial in January. The requests mark the third time in eight days of deliberations that jurors have asked for transcripts to be reread.

Blake, 71, star of the 1970s TV show “Baretta,” is on trial for the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, 44, outside a Studio City restaurant May 4, 2001. He faces life in prison if convicted of murder.

Defense attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach has suggested that the Los Angeles Police Department made a deal with Hambleton, 68, to help him resolve misdemeanor weapons charges pending against him in exchange for his testimony against Blake.

Corwin, a former Los Angeles Times reporter, is an author who was doing research for a book on LAPD detectives. He was present during a police search of Blake’s home and was introduced to a witness by a detective as one of his partners.

Schwartzbach has argued that police rushed to judgment in targeting Blake as their prime suspect to boost sales of Corwin’s book.