2 STUNTMEN NAMED WITNESSES VS. BLAKE.

Byline: Holly Edwards Staff Writer

Two stuntmen who worked with Robert Blake on the ``Baretta'' television series were identified Wednesday by Blake's attorney as the key prosecution witnesses who claim the actor tried to hire them to kill his wife.

The men - identified as Gary McLarty and Ronald ``Duffy'' Hambleton - both have had brushes with the law. Efforts to contact the men were unsuccessful.

Defense attorney Harland Braun said he had known about the witnesses even before Blake was arrested a week ago and charged Monday with capital murder in the fatal shooting of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. He also questioned the motive of Blake's former cronies in acting as witnesses in the case.

``These kinds of witnesses are always suspect because their stories can't be corroborated,'' Braun said. ``If this happened, why didn't they call the police or warn the victim?

``Their stories are bizarre and, morally, this would make them incredibly complicit.''

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, declined to comment on the identities of the witnesses.

``At this point in time we're not going to be discussing evidence out of court,'' she said. ``We feel the place for the evidence to be tested is in a courtroom and not outside.''

Blake, 68, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, with the special circumstance of lying in wait, along with conspiracy and two counts of solicitation of murder.

His bodyguard, Earle Caldwell, 46, of Burbank - accused of providing a gun to Blake - has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder.

The criminal complaint against Blake says he tried to hire two unidentified men to kill Bakley. When those attempts failed, Blake himself shot her twice, once in the head, May 4, 2001, near the Studio City restaurant where the couple had just eaten dinner, according to the complaint.

The motive, police say, is that Blake was trying to get out of his marriage to Bakley, whom he married after a paternity test determined that he - and not Marlon Brando's son, Christian, as Bakley suspected - was the father of their daughter.

Bakley lived in a cottage behind Blake's Studio City home, where she sent nude photos of herself to men in exchange for money as part of a lonely-hearts scam.

Braun said Wednesday that at the time of Bakley's slaying, Blake hoped to take over care of the couple's baby, Rose, and eventually obtain custody of her, while Bakley traveled and led her own life.

Braun described McLarty and Hambleton as ``acquaintances'' of Blake's, but not close friends.

McLarty, 61, is a veteran stuntman who has appeared in more than 100 movies and TV shows in a career dating back to 1967 - including the detective drama ``Baretta,'' in which Blake played the title role.

McLarty also was involved in the trial stemming from the 1982 deaths of actor Vic Morrow and two children on ``The Twilight Zone'' movie set. A stunt-double for Morrow and the stunt coordinator on the film, McLarty was in the helicopter that crashed during a simulated bombing scene.

McLarty was a trial witness and Braun was one of the attorneys for five filmmakers, including producer John Landis, who were acquitted of involuntary manslaughter.

And in 1991, when he was living in the hills above Sylmar, McLarty was arrested in the fatal shooting of an ex-convict accused of trying to rape his friend. However, District Attorney's Office officials declined to press charges in the case, ruling that McLarty had acted in self-defense.

Hambleton is currently free on $10,000 bail while he awaits trial on two misdemeanor counts of brandishing a firearm and one count of resisting, obstructing or delaying a police officer, said Ron Barbatoe, a supervising deputy district attorney for San Bernardino County.

Hambleton, 65, is accused of pointing a rifle at two sheriff's deputies who went to his ranch Dec. 26, 1999, to investigate a report of a possible thief on his property in the Lucerne Valley, near Victorville, Barbatoe said.

Hambleton's trial has been delayed repeatedly because of an undisclosed illness, Barbatoe said, and is now scheduled for May 13.

Hambleton's public defender, Lauren Brown, did not return phone calls.

The Associated Press quoted an unidentified source as saying Hambleton approached Blake last year and asked whether they could get together and do a movie. He was part of a group called Stunts Unlimited and wanted to do an action movie.

Blake told Hambleton he could not get involved in a movie deal because he was distracted by his involvement with Bakley and the birth of their daughter, The AP said.

The AP also identified two other friends who are expected to testify against Blake: stuntman Roy ``Snuffy'' Harrison of West Hills and retired police Officer William Welch.

Police searched Harrison's West Hills home the day after Blake was arrested, looking for photographs of Blake with his stuntman friends, The AP said. And Welch, who now works as a private investigator, will claim that Blake told him that his life would be much better if Bakley were dead.

Staff Writer Sabrina Decker contributed to this story.

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