Friend says Blake was determined to keep baby from Bakley

By: By LINDA DEUTSCH - Associated Press | Wednesday, January 19, 2005 9:25 PM PST ∞

LOS ANGELES -- A man who befriended Robert Blake testified in his murder trial Wednesday that the actor was "obsessed" with his baby daughter and was determined to keep the child away from her mother, but suddenly married Bonny Lee Bakley in a no-frills wedding that went off "one, two, three."

Robert David Renzi's testimony focusing on Blake's dislike of his wife came after the prosecution called the writer of a book about the Los Angeles police homicide unit to tell how detectives summoned him to the scene of Bakley's murder. The move pre-empted an expected defense effort to portray police as publicity-seekers.

Renzi, an elderly man who did not state his occupation, offered an account of Blake's frame of mind concerning Bakley in the time period after learning he fathered her baby and leading up to their abrupt wedding.

Renzi said he asked to meet Blake in 2000 when he heard about him from Blake's handyman, Earle Caldwell. Renzi said that after meeting Caldwell, the handyman offered to take him to Blake's house.

"I met Mr. Blake at the door. It was a bit of a thrill for me," Renzi testified.

But soon after arriving, he said, Blake began confiding problems and showed him paperwork concerning Bakley and her past.

"He was totally concerned about the child," Renzi said. "He didn't want her, Bonny, to have anything to do with her (the child). He wanted to keep her away from the child."

Deputy District Attorney Shellie Samuels asked Renzi to describe Blake's mood on that occasion and others when they met to talk about his situation.

"Upset," Renzi said. "Whenever we talked about the deceased he was upset. There was nothing pleasant said about her."

Renzi said Blake told him the story of how Bakley first named Christian Brando as the father of her child but found out after a DNA test that the baby was Blake's child.

"He was totally obsessed with love for that child," said the witness. "He was totally paranoid about her (Bakley) coming in contact with the child because of her past."

Renzi said Blake showed him documents involving Bakley's legal troubles in Arkansas and "he told me how she conned everybody. That was her lifestyle."

He said that Blake asked him for help and at one point held out to him $10,000 in cash for any help Renzi could provide in dealing with Bakley. Renzi said he refused the money but offered to put him in touch with another man who had connections with federal authorities.

Renzi said Blake accepted the offer and the man, Luis Mendoza, flew to Los Angeles from Florida to meet with Blake. Mendoza was expected to testify on Thursday.

Renzi also testified that Blake told him he had once offered Bakley a quarter-million dollars to get out of his life.

"But she wouldn't take it. She was making more money than he was," Renzi said.

Renzi said that Bakley's real interest was never the child.

"Bonny wanted to marry a movie actor," he said.

One night, he said, Blake called him and announced, "I'm getting married, come on over."

Renzi said he went to Blake's house, where a minister and a lawyer were with the actor. In a few minutes, Bakley arrived, escorted by Caldwell, the witness said.

"She came in with Earle and then they started the ceremony, one, two three," he said.

"How long did it take," the prosecutor asked.

"One, two, three," said the witness, causing chuckles in the courtroom. "I shook her hand, gave her a kiss on the cheek and left."

Renzi said during cross-examination, however, that in spite of Blake's constant complaining before the marriage, his tone changed afterward.

"You asked him how he liked married life?" asked defense attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach.

The witness confirmed that Blake told him, "It's OK, she's in the back house."

The defense attorney stressed that the only help Blake ever sought from Renzi was for actions that were legal.

"Mr. Blake never asked you to do anything illegal?" asked Schwartzbach.

"Never," said the witness.

Bakley was fatally shot in the actor's car on the night of May 4, 2001, after they had dined together.

Author Miles Corwin testified about observing the Bakley murder investigation while researching the book "Homicide Special: A Year with the LAPD's Elite Detective Unit."

Corwin said that he reached the crime scene about 4 a.m. and then stayed with the detectives as they investigated the killing. He said he never touched anything while accompanying investigators.

Schwartzbach asked repeatedly if detectives saw his book as a vehicle for them to redeem a department reputation badly damaged by the O.J. Simpson case.

Corwin said he never told police that it would be in their interest to participate in his book, nor that he would write about them favorably.