Police: Keep Quiet on Blake Case

May 15 -- Los Angeles police say it's time for actor Robert Blake's attorney to stop talking and let them do their job, and for the media to act responsibly.

The actor's attorney, Harland Braun, has been criticizing the police and offering information about Blake's wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, ever since she was shot to death as she sat in the couple's car near a Studio City, Calif., restaurant, on May 4.

Garrett Zimmon, the commanding officer of Detective Services in the Los Angeles Police Department, said Monday night that Braun's constant talking to the media and leaks from within the department were interfering with the ability of police to solve the crime.

He also criticized Braun for his assaults on Bakley's character. The lawyer has said he felt he needed to bring out details about Bakley's past to spur police to look beyond Blake for potential suspects in the case.

"We must remember that Bonny Lee Bakley is not the one under investigation. She is the victim," he said. "We need to be sensitive to that."

On Sunday, police sources told ABCNEWS that investigators found the gun they believe was used to kill Blake's wife in a trash bin a block and a half away from where the shooting took place. Today the Los Angeles Times reported that a garbage truck driver told the newspaper that officers told him they found the gun as he moved a trash bin from the murder site.

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"They said the gun had just been freshly oiled and there was a lot of dust stuck to it," the truck driver, John Phillip Brice, told the Times. "They didn't know if they would be able to get the prints off."

Zimmon said such leaks make it harder for detectives to do their jobs.

"It is not appropriate to comment on items that have been or have not been taken into evidence or witnesses who have been or have not been interviewed," he said. "To do so takes away our responsibility to fully and completely conduct an investigation and may, in fact, be harmful to the case."

A Smoking Gun?

According to police sources, there was still one bullet in the gun, a Walther handgun described as a collector's item, which matched the two bullets used to kill Blake's wife as she sat in the actor's car waiting for him to return from a restaurant where the couple had just had dinner.