Blake Attorney Turns Over Evidence

May 10, 2001 -- The attorney for Robert Blake said today he had turned over new evidence to police investigating the shooting death of the former Baretta star's wife.

Attorney Harland Braun told a Los Angeles news conference he had earlier taken some of Bonny Lee Bakley's personal effects — including several pieces of luggage containing tapes and papers — from the couple's home Sunday. He said he thought investigators should see these.

The move came one day after police conducted a second search of Blake's Studio City, Calif., home, and for the first time the lead detective on the case has said the actor has not been ruled out as a suspect.

"We have not ruled anyone out as a suspect in this case and information that indicated that we had is just quite frankly wrong," said Capt. Jim Tatreau, commander of the Los Angeles Police Department's robbery-homicide division.

In an interview with ABCNEWS, Tatreau said, "We have certainly not ruled out Mr. Blake."

‘They Need Every Scrap of Evidence’

Bakley was shot in the head Friday night as she sat in a car outside a restaurant. Blake, 67, said he had gone back inside to get a gun he had forgotten in the eatery, and found her wounded when he returned. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Blake has said he was carrying the gun because he feared for his wife's safety.

Addressing reporters this afternoon, Blake's attorney expressed no surprise over the second search of his client's house.

"I think they [police] realize this is a very difficult case and they need every scrap of evidence they can get," Braun said.

Braun described the slain woman as a "pack rat" who kept extensive personal documents, including 90 minutes of taped conversations.

"She tape-recorded her own conversations," he said. "[She's] discussing whether Blake is the right guy to go after, or [Christian] Brando, and which she would get more money from."

Blake and Bakley married after DNA tests proved he was the father of her baby daughter. Previously, Bakley had named Brando, son of actor Marlon Brando, as the father of the child, Rose, now 11 months old.

‘He's Got a Cloud Over Him’

Asked how Blake was doing, given the media frenzy surrounding the case, Braun told reporters: "He's got a cloud over him. You've got to live with who you are and make peace with your maker about who you are and with who people think you are."

Earlier, Braun had said the actor was glad police had searched his home again, because he hopes they uncover clues about who killed his wife.

"We want the LAPD to investigate Robert Blake, because the more they investigate, they'll find out he didn't do it," Braun said.

Sources told ABCNEWS police were looking through financial records during the Wednesday night search. They say several recent cash withdrawals are unaccounted for.

They were also looking for a second diary kept by Bakley — a diary friends and family members of the victim say detailed threats made by Blake.

However, sources told ABCNEWS they did not find that diary. Braun did not say whether it was among the items he gave police today.

Police planned to interview the couple's bodyguard today, sources told ABCNEWS.

Search for New Clues

At the Blake residence Wednesday night, helicopters hovered overhead and searchlights illuminated the front yard as about 30 officers, some in plain clothes, searched both Blake's house and the guest house on the grounds where his wife lived. After about two hours, detectives emerged carrying a large department store shopping bag and a white garbage bag.

A blue Mercedes was also towed off the property. It had been parked in Blake's back yard.

The search came hours after police officials addressed reporters, denying accusations from Blake's attorney that the department was ignoring leads from the victim's checkered past — and the lonely hearts she allegedly bilked out of money.

"By ignoring the possibility that someone came from her past, they're overemphasizing Blake as a possible suspect," Braun said.

But police said that was simply not true.

LAPD investigators said they were making "good progress" in the case, and test results were still pending — including tests to detect traces of gun powder residue on Blake's clothing, which are being conducted at an East Coast lab.

Police also said they were still conducting interviews.

During their first search of the Blake house, police seized two 9 mm handguns, more than 100 rounds of ammunition, phone records and credit card receipts, according to Blake's attorney and the Los Angeles Times. Blake himself has been interviewed twice.

Born Michael Gubitosi, Blake began his acting career at age 5, appearing in MGM's Our Gang series. He appeared in a number of films, including The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and In Cold Blood, but is best known for Baretta.

In the 1970s series, he played a tough cop with a soft side who had a pet cockatoo named Fred and got tips from a pimp named Rooster. The popular Baretta theme song warned, "Don't go to bed with no price on your head … Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."

ABCNEWS' Steffan Tubbs and Dave Alpert contributed to this report.