Robert Blake Still Trying For Bail

Lawyers for actor Robert Blake petitioned the California Supreme Court on Monday to grant Blake bail without a further hearing.

The filing was the latest in a series of legal maneuvers aimed at freeing the former "Baretta" star, who has been jailed for six months on murder and other charges in the killing of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.

At an Oct. 9 bail hearing, a judge said he still needed to hear from witnesses at a preliminary hearing before he could make a decision on whether to set bail. That hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 11.

In Monday's filing, attorney Paul Hoffman said his client should be released on bail immediately. He said the government lacks "clear and convincing evidence" that Blake killed his wife while lying in wait.

"That's the bar that has to be met. We are saying that the D.A. did not meet that bar," Hoffman said.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, declined to comment on the petition, saying her office hadn't seen it yet.

Bakley, 44, was shot and killed May 4, 2001, outside Blake's favorite restaurant in the San Fernando Valley. Blake, 69, has been jailed without bail since his April 18 arrest.

Blake's bodyguard and co-defendant, Earle Caldwell, is free on $1 million bail posted by Blake.