Blake's lawyers implicate Brando

Robert Blake is out on bail

Lawyers for US actor Robert Blake have said they can make a "compelling case" that Marlon Brando's son Orlando was responsible for his wife's murder.

Blake's lawyer Thomas Mesereau said in a court hearing that Brando was enraged when he learned Bonny Lee Bakley was carrying Blake's child and not his.

Brando had been romantically linked to Bakley, who was killed in May 2001.

But the judge said that a witness who overheard Brando making threatening comments about Bakley was not credible.

Blake's lawyer has asked to call Diane Madsen, who said she overheard Brando telling an acquaintance called "Duffy" over the telephone that someone should put a bullet in Bakley's head.

Ronald "Duffy" Hambleton is one of two Hollywood stuntmen who have given evidence that Blake asked them to murder his wife.

"We think there's a compelling case Brando did this," said Mesereau - adding that unlike Blake, he has killed before.

"He did, in fact, put a bullet in his late sister's boyfriend and went to prison for 10 years," he told the court in Los Angeles.

Ms Bakley was found dead in a car outside a restaurant

But the prosection dismissed Brando as a suspect, saying that he had an alibi for the time of Bakley's murder and didn't have a motive.

"He was kind of relieved Bakley's baby wasn't his," said Los Angeles district attorney Shelley Samuels.

The judge is to hold a separate hearing to determine whether Blake's lawyers can proceed with blaming the murder on a suspected serial robber.

Blake was more subdued that after his appearance on Monday, when he borrowed a street musician's guitar and started singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

The former star of US television show Baretta has denied killing his 44-year-old wife, who was found shot dead in their car outside a restaurant.

Blake said he left her alone in the car to return to the restaurant to retrieve a gun he carried for protection which had been accidentally left behind.