Blake Given Week to Find a Lawyer

A Los Angeles judge on Monday gave actor Robert Blake one more week to find a new lawyer to represent him on charges that he killed his wife.

Superior Court Judge Darlene E. Schempp also set a Sept. 9 trial date, warning the 70-year-old defendant that she did not plan to delay the case again.

She ordered Blake to return to court Monday with a lawyer.

The celebrity murder trial had been set to begin this month, but Blake’s criminal defense lawyer, Thomas A. Mesereau Jr., abruptly quit the case, causing the postponement.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie L. Samuels told the judge that prosecutors believed the change of counsel was, in part, “a ploy to keep Mr. Blake out of custody.”

The actor, best known for his role in the 1970s television series “Baretta,” was released from County Jail on a $1.5-million bond last March.

He had been held without bail at Men’s Central Jail for 11 months after his April 2002 arrest.

Blake is accused of fatally shooting his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, 44, near a Studio City restaurant where they had dined.

Prosecutors allege that Blake tried to hire two former stuntmen to kill Bakley, and when they both refused, he pulled the trigger himself.

He has pleaded not guilty. The actor said he went back to the restaurant to retrieve a handgun he had left at their table and returned to find her bleeding from the head.

Blake was uncharacteristically quiet Monday.

He did not answer any questions from the media and shrugged when a reporter asked him how long he needed to find a lawyer. He had asked the judge for a two-week delay.