Charges against Blake could bring death penalty

Besides murder, Blake was charged with solicitation of murder,conspiracy and the special circumstance of lying in wait. UnderCalifornia law, a special circumstance gives means prosecutors canseek a death sentence--a decision they say has not been made inBlake's case.

Blake's bodyguard, Earle Caldwell, 46, was charged with conspiracyto commit murder in what prosecutors said was a plot that began atleast three months before the slaying. Among other things, Caldwellwas accused of keeping a list of items needed for the hit, includingduct tape, lye and shovels.

Both men pleaded innocent, saying nothing in court except whenasked for their pleas.

Bonny Lee Bakley, 44, was killed last May as she sat in Blake'scar outside a Los Angeles restaurant where the couple had just dined.

Blake, who won an Emmy for his portrayal of a detective in the1970s TV show "Baretta," has said his wife was shot after he returnedto the restaurant to retrieve a gun he accidentally left behind.

He was carrying the weapon, he said, to protect Bakley fromthreats she had received.

Prosecutors, however, said the 68-year-old actor fired the handgunthat killed his wife.

They also say he planned the hit, asked two people to kill Bakleyand considered having her body buried in the desert. Blake allegedlychecked out two remote places to kill Bakley--a town outside SequoiaNational Park and an Arizona community--in the weeks before theslaying next to a construction site.

In a criminal complaint, prosecutors said Blake drove Bakley todinner and parked behind a trash bin a block from the restaurant.

When the couple returned to the car, Bakley sat in the passengerseat. Prosecutors say Blake "lowered the windows, got out of the car"holding the keys and shot his wife twice with a 9mm handgun he latertossed in a trash bin.

Before the slaying, Blake asked two people to kill his wife andshowed them a gun, the complaint said. In one case, Blake allegedlysaid that Caldwell "would have already dug holes for burial."

Prosecutors said the bodyguard, at Blake's request, kept a list ofitems for use in the murder that read: "2 shovels, small sledge,crowbar, 25 auto, 'get blank gun ready,' old rugs, duct tape, Draino,pool acid, lye, plant."

AP