Posted on 10/31/2005 7:54:29 PM PST by NormsRevenge
BURBANK, Calif. (AP) - A businessman with ties to Los Angeles police testified Monday he tried frantically to alert authorities to an alternate theory of who killed Robert Blake's wife but his story apparently was discounted.
Brian Allan Fiebelkorn was called to the stand by Blake's defense in his civil wrongful death trial. The witness, who manages one of the nation's largest luxury car dealerships, provided jurors with a complex story that sounded like the stuff of a movie script. It featured a homeless, toothless man, two suicides and a group tied to Marlon Brando's son, Christian.
Fiebelkorn, who described his own underprivileged beginnings, said he became fascinated with a group of men who came and went from a house across the street from his Hollywood Hills home. He said the place looked like "a hippie compound" strewn with debris. "I thought it was cool," he said.
Fiebelkorn said he befriended the owner and some of his guests, including a transient named Mark Jones who had few teeth and used narcotics. He said he hired Jones to do work in his house and the two became close.
Once, he said, he saw Jones with Brando and a former stuntman, Jerry Lee Petty, who has been linked to the Blake case. He also said that he saw Jones carrying a gun that appeared to be the same as the one that killed Bakley.
He identified a picture of the Walther P38 vintage gun which he said he recognized because he sells Aston Martin cars and known that "James Bond has a gun like this, and we have a picture of it in the dealership."
In May of 2001, the same month that Bakley was killed, Fiebelkorn said he heard that Petty had committed suicide. He said Jones was distraught about it and began acting paranoid. He said Jones asked Fiebelkorn if he would be his "banker" and hold $10,000 he had just received. The witness said he declined.
On May 31, 2001, he said Jones committed suicide by asphyxiation in a car owned by Fiebelkorn, which had been stored on the property across the street.
"I was devastated," he said.
Fiebelkorn said he did not come forward with his story until 2004, after he researched the Blake case on the Internet, participated in a number of chat rooms and came to believe he had important information. He also said he conferred with his boss, who has close ties to the Los Angeles Police Commission and urged Fiebelkorn to tell his story.
The witness said he approached District Attorney Steve Cooley at a law enforcement event, and Cooley had the lead detective on the Blake case contact him.
He said the Det. Ron Ito came to see him with other officers but "seemed irritated" and accused Fiebelkorn of wanting publicity.
The witness said he later was interviewed by Blake's criminal lawyer, M. Gerald Schwartzbach and was subpoenaed to testify in the criminal trial but was never called to the stand.
"Was that because you had no credibility?" asked plaintiffs' attorney Eric Dubin.
Blake's lawyer objected to the question as out of order, and Superior Court Judge David Schacter sustained the objection.
Blake lawyer Peter Ezzell said he has a few more witnesses to call before resting his case. The trial is expected to go to the jury later this week.
Blake is being sued for wrongful death by the family of Bakley. The star of the old "Baretta" TV show was found not guilty of murder in a criminal trial that ended earlier this year.
--I think this flake is confused--"James Bond" uses a PPK-at least in the books--mostly-
Correct, but the media would identify a battleship as an aircraft carrier if they reported on warships. A lot of them aren't very smart.
There is a Connery 007 poster which shows him holding a P-38.
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