LOS ANGELES – The prosecution tried to bolster its murder case against Robert Blake (search) by calling a police detective and the girlfriend of a key witness who claims the actor solicited him to kill his wife.
Detective Brian Tyndall testified Thursday that police determined Blake had bought a prepaid telephone calling card, which the prosecution claims was used to make the calls to hire a killer.
According to earlier testimony, the card was used under the belief that it would make the calls untraceable.
Tyndall was scheduled to resume his testimony Friday.
Blake, 71, is accused of murdering Bonny Lee Bakley (search) on May 4, 2001. She was shot twice as she sat in a car near a restaurant where she and the former "Baretta" (search) TV star had dined. He could face life in prison if convicted.
The prosecution's case rests heavily on the testimony of former Hollywood stuntmen Gary McLarty and Rondal "Duffy" Hambleton that Blake had asked them to kill Bakley.
The defense, which rested its case Wednesday, has tried to portray the men as unreliable drug users. Blake's lawyers brought in an expert to testify that long-term cocaine and methamphetamine use can lead to paranoia and delusions.
Prosecutors, opening their rebuttal Thursday, called Hillorie Rudolph, McLarty's girlfriend. She said she knew McLarty used cocaine during their entire 12-year relationship but did not see him acting bizarrely until he suffered a mental breakdown last year.
On cross-examination, Rudolph said McLarty told her that he had seen aliens from outer space when he was a child.
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