Blake Rants for 17 Minutes During Civil Deposition, Then Goes Silent

Actor Robert Blake ranted in defiance of his attorney’s order to remain silent, then refused to answer any questions, including his date of birth, at a deposition Wednesday after his criminal defense attorney threatened to quit if he opened his mouth.

But before the first question was posed, Blake, who is charged with killing his wife, spoke of his belief that he would die in jail, and offered a melodramatic plea to his attorneys to allow him to publicly defend himself in the media, according to a transcript obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

Blake lost his first attorney last year after he ignored direction and tried to set up an interview with television personality Diane Sawyer. Tuesday, another lawyer asked to quit after learning that Blake had agreed to an interview with Barbara Walters.

His remaining lawyer, Thomas A. Mesereau Jr., repeatedly threatened to quit, too, as he tried energetically to silence Blake on Wednesday.

For 17 minutes, Blake spoke from an attorney visitation room in Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles as a court reporter and video cameraman captured his words as part of a sworn deposition given in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the children of Blake’s slain wife.

Blake’s eyes filled with tears as he said Mesereau would bear the responsibility if the 69-year-old actor dies in jail and is never able to explain his plight to his young daughter, Rosie.

Blake has pleaded not guilty to charges that he fatally shot 44-year-old Bonny Lee Bakley on May 4, 2001, outside a Studio City restaurant where they had dined. He has been held without bail since his April 18 arrest in Hidden Hills. He faces life in prison.

“I’m an old man. I’m pushing 70. If I’m going to die in that box, I want to talk before I go. I want Rosie to see who her Daddy is,” Blake told Mesereau, according to the transcript.

Wearing orange jail-issued clothes and talking from behind a plexiglass wall, Blake was interrupted repeatedly by Mesereau.

“They are only asking you questions to create a circus, to manipulate, twist the things you say and try to hurt you in the criminal trial,” Mesereau said. “You’re going to be acquitted in this trial, Mr. Blake, and when you are acquitted you can say all you want.”

But Blake ignored the advice and continued, at times pointing his finger at his lawyer as he expressed his determination to conduct media interviews.

“I want to know if you can live with the responsibility that when they wheel me out of here feet first with a tag on my toe that you can say you did the right thing,” Blake said.

“And if you’re wrong, you can stand at my grave and watch [daughters] Deli and Rosie and say I made the right choice,” Blake said.

When the questioning began, Blake stopped speaking. He looked down and appeared to ignore the attorneys sitting across from him as lawyer Eric J. Dubin asked Blake point-blank whether he killed Bakley and if he had solicited others to kill Bakley.

Prosecutors charge that Blake asked two stuntmen he knew from his days on the 1970s television series “Baretta” to kill Bakley before he finally pulled the trigger himself. But Blake’s defense team has said in the past that hundreds of men Bakley scammed over the years through a mail-order lonely hearts business had motive to kill her.

After the first few questions, Blake removed a microphone clipped to his shirt and later looked away when Dubin tried to show him a photograph of Bakley and her two adult children, according to a copy of the videotape. He later ate an apple and drank from a small milk carton as more questions were asked.

Dubin said he was disappointed that he did not get any answers to his questions, which continued for more than an hour. “I don’t see how his date of birth can incriminate him,” he said.

The deposition of a criminal defendant is unusual because civil cases are typically delayed until the criminal trial is over.

Blake’s plea to speak publicly about his wife’s slaying comes a day after a second criminal defense attorney asked to quit his case because Blake had set up a network interview without her knowledge or consent, violating an agreement they had.

Jennifer L. Keller of Irvine filed a motion to withdraw as Blake’s criminal defense attorney Tuesday, citing “a complete and irremediable breakdown in the attorney-client relationship.”

She said Wednesday that she learned that Blake had agreed to do a television interview with Barbara Walters after sheriff’s officials had been consulted.

Blake’s first attorney, Harland W. Braun, quit in late November after learning that Blake planned to be interviewed on television by Diane Sawyer. The interview was canceled after sheriff’s officials refused to allow cameras in the jail.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lloyd Nash, who is presiding over the criminal case, set a hearing for Friday to consider Keller’s request.

After the unusual deposition, Dubin said he was amazed at Blake’s behavior, but reminded reporters, “He’s an actor and I don’t know how much of what he said at the beginning was scripted.”