LOS ANGELES – Breaking their silence since they began deliberating on Friday, jurors in the Robert Blake (search) murder case asked Wednesday for transcripts from three witnesses but left court without reaching a verdict, FOX News has learned.
The witnesses whose testimonies jurors want read back to them are Steve Restivo, co-owner of Blake's favorite Studio City (search) Italian restaurant Vitello's, and two of the eatery's patrons, Rebecca Markham and Andrew Percifal, FOX has learned.
Blake's wife Bonny Lee Bakley (search) was shot and killed near Vitello's in May 2001.
The jury spent much of the afternoon reviewing the statements of Restivo, who testified Blake seemed to be acting normally during dinner.
The jury also reviewed testimony by a couple who live near the restaurant.
The couple testified they noticed Blake and later saw him alone, hurrying past them as they walked home along the same street where Blake's car was parked. They said he crossed the street in the direction of the car but that they heard and saw nothing afterward.
Before the transcript request, jurors had not asked any questions or requested any review of trial testimony since deliberations began Friday after closing arguments.
Also Wednesday, Judge Darlene Schempp admonished a reporter from People magazine, who the judge said approached four jurors during a break to give them her business card. The reporter said she thought it was permissible to simply make contact.
"Don't come near that jury again," the judge said.
Blake, 71, is accused of killing his Bakley, 44, after she allegedly tricked him into marrying her. The actor is charged with murder, two counts of solicitation of murder and a special circumstance of lying in wait. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.
Defense attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach called it a weak case that lacked physical evidence and was built largely on the testimony of two witnesses who were once heavy drug users. No eyewitnesses, blood or DNA evidence linked Blake to the crime.
Blake maintains someone else killed Bakley when he left her briefly in his car to retrieve a gun he left behind during dinner. The .38-caliber revolver was not used to kill Bakley.
Deputy District Attorney Shellie Samuels told jurors that Blake killed Bakley because she had tricked him into marrying her by getting pregnant. She argued that Blake then became obsessed with protecting the baby from Bakley, who he believed was a con artist who sold promises of sex by mail.
FOX News' Eleanor Suhr and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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