Doctor Testifies Blake Didn’t Aid Dying Wife

A doctor who watched Robert Blake as his wife lay dying said the actor made no effort to help her -- actions he testified Wednesday were uncharacteristic of survivors he has seen facing the imminent death of loved ones.

Dr. James Michael McCoy, a healthcare system administrator and physician for 25 years, said Blake’s cries for help “didn’t seem to have an element of distress.”

The Air Force veteran who saw combat in Vietnam is the fourth witness in two days to testify that the former “Baretta” star acted “odd” in the minutes after his wife was shot on May 4, 2001.

They all said Blake did not go near or look toward Bonny Lee Bakley, 44, his wife of six months and the mother of his youngest child, in the final minutes of her life.

McCoy and a friend were walking back from dinner when they saw a man pounding on the front door of a nearby house and yelling for help. They didn’t recognize the Emmy Award-winning actor and didn’t see anyone in need of medical attention. They feared a crime was in progress, he testified.

“It seemed like a home-invasion robbery,” McCoy said.

Prosecutors will rely heavily on motive to prove their circumstantial case. They say Blake despised Bakley and her family, and would do anything to gain sole custody of their daughter, Rosie.

But Blake’s defense lawyer, M. Gerald Schwartzbach, said the case lacks physical evidence and he accused Los Angeles Police Department investigators of negligence.

Schwartzbach also attacked the credibility of the prosecution’s star witnesses: two Hollywood stuntmen who testified that Blake had asked them to kill Bakley.

Blake, 71, has pleaded not guilty to murder and soliciting murder. He also is being sued by Bakley’s four adult children for her death.

McCoy said that based on his medical experience, he would have expected Blake to stay close to Bakley.

“In my experience in general around families where there’s been a trauma and sudden events like this, it’s very hard to separate the loved ones so you can tend to [the victim] properly,” McCoy testified.

On cross-examination, McCoy conceded that he had never been at the scene of a fatal shooting before and made no effort to save Bakley’s life.

In other testimony, Joe Restivo, co-owner of Vitello’s, the Studio City restaurant where Blake and Bakley dined the night of the slaying, said he never saw Blake return to the restaurant to retrieve his handgun -- which is what Blake told police he was doing when Bakley was shot.

Medical examiner Jeffrey Gutstadt testified that Bakley probably could not have survived 15 minutes after she sustained two gunshots to the right shoulder and head. He said the killer had to be at least 1 1/2 feet from Bakley.

Testimony will resume Jan. 4.