Blake Tells His Side in Civil Suit Brought by Slain Wife’s Family

Actor Robert Blake testified this week that he didn’t call 911 after discovering his wife dying in their car because he didn’t know how to use the cellphones in her purse.

The testimony came during a three-day deposition ending Wednesday that was taken as part of a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the actor by the family of his slain wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.

Asked whether he was trying to delay medical help for Bakley, who had been shot, Blake grew indignant.

“That’s offensive, sir. The answer is no,” Blake said, according to a transcript of the deposition in Irvine that was provided by the family’s lawyer, Eric Dubin.

Blake, 71, did not testify at his murder trial, which ended in an acquittal in March. He was deposed in 2003 in the wrongful-death suit but refused to answer questions at that time. He could be compelled to take the witness stand in the civil trial, now set for summer.

Much of Blake’s testimony focused on his alibi.

According to Blake, he and Bakley went to his car on May 4, 2001, after dining at a restaurant. He told his wife he had to return to the restaurant to retrieve a handgun he had forgotten there.

“OK, honey,” were her last words to him, he said.

When he returned, Blake climbed into the car, picked up his keys from the floor of the vehicle, and then saw that Bakley was slumped over.

He said he thought she was sleeping and only realized something was wrong when he saw blood trickling from her nose.

Dubin said Blake’s version of what happened “doesn’t make sense.”

“It would have been absolutely impossible for Robert Blake to get in and out of that car without getting a speck of blood on him,” said Dubin, displaying enlarged photos of the crime scene. The car’s center console was stained with blood.

“He never went back into that car. He didn’t have to. He knew she was already dead.”

Blake’s lawyer, Peter Ezzell, said the testimony was not new. “All of these things were brought up in the criminal trial, and all of them were rejected,” he said.

Dubin “is doing his very best to pollute the jury pool with misinformation,” Ezzell added. “It’s subverting justice.”

Dubin said he is only responding to Blake and his lawyers: “For four years, Robert Blake has trashed the murder victim. Robert Blake has been using the media to taint the jury pool with lies. I’m [obligated] to respond to that.”

The volleys from the two sides came after the latest settlement talks broke down.

According to Ezzell, Blake made an offer six weeks ago to settle the lawsuit for $250,000, but the family wanted 15 times that amount.

Dubin declined to comment on the figures.

Times staff writer Jean Guccione contributed to this report.