Who Murdered Bonny Lee Bakley?

Meanwhile, when it became public knowledge that LAPD was looking at Blake as their prime suspect in his wife's murder, O. J. Simpson offered, unsolicited, his advice on what Blake should and should not do while being interviewed in his yard in Miami on the television show, Extra. It would have been almost laughable if Blake's situation was not revolving around such a tragedy.

"I've got to admit, I was pretty fascinated when I heard about it," Simpson said. "My first reaction was an immediate feeling of compassion for him (Blake) because I knew what he was about to go through. I was saying, 'Man, this poor guy. I hope they find who did it right away because the next week or two is going to be horrible for him, being under that veil of suspicion.'"

Simpson, who was acquitted of murdering his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in a criminal trial, was held liable for their deaths in a civil trial before a jury. Simpson provided Blake with advice on how to handle all of the media attention and scrutiny that he was about to receive.

"Don't watch TV, Robert," Simpson said. "I know that watching TV is only going to frustrate him. That's all it's going to do." He also recommended that Blake's legal counsel should stop releasing unflattering details of his murdered wife's background. "My lawyers never revealed any information about Nicole that her friends hadn't already revealed. My lawyers were never the leader in any of that because they were told specifically, and we had a philosophy — 'Nothing negative about Nicole.'" Simpson also advised Blake not to take a lie-detector test. "Do exactly what the Ramseys did. A lie-detector test can only hurt him. It can't help him."

"Yeah," quipped Simpson as he quoted some of the words from the Baretta theme song, "keep your eye on the sparrow. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."