Prosecutors in actor Robert Blake’s murder trial can use as evidence a television interview in which he says he had a fine relationship with the woman he is accused of killing, a judge ruled Wednesday.
The 71-year-old former star of the “Baretta” TV series told ABC’s Barbara Walters in February 2003 that he got along well with his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, who was found shot to death in his car in May 2001.
Prosecutor Shellie Samuels said she wants to prove that Blake’s statement was a lie.
“That Barbara Walters interview was done for a reason. It was done to convince the public that he had a fine relationship with Bonny Lee Bakley,” Samuels said. “It was a lie. It shows consciousness of guilt.”
She added: “You don’t go on TV to lie unless you have a reason to lie, and you don’t lie unless you really did it.”
Defense attorney Gerald Schwartzbach had asked Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp to bar the interview from the trial on the grounds that it did not reflect Blake’s state of mind on the night of the murder.
Schempp also ruled that prosecutors could use as evidence recorded jailhouse conversations Blake had with several people including comedian Mort Sahl, in which prosecutors say he refers to Bakley and her family as “monsters.”
Blake is accused of killing Bakley, 44, to gain sole custody of the daughter they had together and to keep her and her family away from the child.
Opening statements are set to begin in the trial Monday.
The actor, who won an Emmy for playing a maverick detective in the 1970s cop drama “Baretta,” could face life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors say he considered his wife a petty swindler who had tricked him into having their child.
Blake, who has pleaded innocent, told police that he and Bakley dined at Vitello’s restaurant and that someone killed her while he returned to the restaurant to retrieve a handgun he had left behind.
Authorities spent nearly a year investigating the case before Blake was charged. Since then the case has been delayed repeatedly, partly because the actor has twice fired attorneys.