LOS ANGELES (AP) – Prosecutors urged a judge Thursday to bar from actor Robert Blake’s murder trial a defense theory linking the son of the late Marlon Brando to the 2001 slaying of Blake’s wife.

Deputy District Attorney Shellie Samuels said there’s no evidence to support the complex theory, and “granting the motion to allow presentation of defendant’s many unfocused theories would only confuse and mislead a jury.”

In a defense motion filed last week, the defense claimed newly discovered evidence shows a conspiracy involving friends of Christian Brando – two former stuntmen and two transients, including a “homeless toothless man” – to murder Bonny Lee Bakley. A hearing is set for Oct. 14.

Samuel acknowledged Brando is heard on a tape recording telling Bakley she’s lucky someone hasn’t put a bullet in her head. However, “There is no evidence Brando ever took any steps to carry out any threat in the months between the alleged statements and the murder,” she said.

She noted Judge Darlene Schempp had already rejected a similar motion by an earlier Blake legal team.

“Defendant’s new but unimproved argument presents a large cast of identified and unidentified characters that defendant would like to incriminate in an unspecified vast conspiracy to murder the victim,” Samuels said. But “at the end of his long story, all the defendant can say is the killer’s identity ‘remains unknown.”‘

Blake, 70, is charged with killing his 44-year-old wife on May 4, 2001. He has pleaded not guilty. His trial is set to begin Nov. 1.

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