LOS ANGELES, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Robert Blake theorized in a television interview from a Los Angeles County jail Wednesday night that someone his wife had scammed was likely the person who had shot her, and that the truth would eventually set him free.
In a long-awaited interview that was conducted over the vehement objections of his lawyers, the 69-year-old actor and accused killer vowed he would not be convicted of shooting Bonny Lee Bakley, the star-struck 44-year-old career grifter who became pregnant with his child and snared him in a short-lived marriage he said he wanted no part of.
"In my heart, I believe that (it was) some man, from 10, 15, maybe 20 years ago, because she used to get married to them ... I think she destroyed a lot of lives," Blake told ABC's "20/20" in an interview with Barbara Walters.
"I think one of those lives that she destroyed saw her on television."
Blake has been in jail since his arrest last April on charges he conspired with his former bodyguard, Earle Caldwell, to set up Bakley's slaying and eventually killed her as his wife sat in his car outside his favorite Italian restaurant in the San Fernando Valley.
A preliminary hearing began Wednesday in Van Nuys to determine if Blake will stand trial. The actor told Walters that he expected to be bound over at the conclusion of the preliminary hearing, but that he had faith that he would be acquitted.
"I'm not going to be found guilty," vowed Blake, who appeared gaunt and depressed in his orange jail-issue jumpsuit. "It's real simple: Because God has never, ever deserted me."
Blake's attorneys have consistently said that Bakley had made a lot of enemies over the years by scamming cash from lonely men who responded to ads she placed in "lonely hearts" columns. Her apparent modus operandi, they said, was to send intriguing photos of herself and to make empty promises to the desperate men. Their theory is that one of those victims stalked Bakley and killed her the night of May 4, 2001, when Blake left her alone for a few minutes to fetch a handgun he had left inside Vitello's restaurant.
However, no other suspects have been identified either by the Los Angeles police or by Blake's attorneys.
"Bonny never went any place by herself," Blake said. "I drove her to the post office; I drove her to the back doctor; I took her out to dinner (and) I think it was the first time in her life that she was scared that her past was sneaking around."
Blake has claimed he started carrying a gun because he was concerned that someone from Bakley's past might attempt to harm her or the couple's baby daughter.
"That's when I got scared, when I saw people around my house and I didn't know who the hell they were," Blake said. "And I think they followed us to Vitello's."
While Blake has professed his love and delight for their daughter -- Rosie, now 2 1/2 -- Los Angeles police believe Blake had married Bakley only after unsuccessfully pressuring her to have an abortion.
He made no apologies, however, for beginning his affair with Bakley, whom he met at a jazz club and admittedly looked at as a casual sexual partner. He indicated he had been willing to consider a long-term relationship with the mother of his child.
"I'm an old man. I ain't got no life," he said. "I'm hanging around jazz clubs, sleeping with women I don't even know their name. ... Everybody thought I was crazy. I don't care. We had plans. We were going to kind of get to know each other and go from there. What did I have to lose?" he asked.
Blake is not expected to testify either at the preliminary hearing that continues Thursday or at trial, assuming he is bound over. He adamantly insisted on a television interview over the advice of his lawyers because, he said, he feared he would die in jail or prison without ever telling his side of the story to the public.
"I'm not going to live for another year in jail," the demoralized Blake said. "I'm 70 years old. Things happen to old people. They get aneurysms. They get strokes. They get heart attacks."
