Los Angeles ? Two stuntmen who worked on the “Baretta” television series with Robert Blake are expected to testify that he tried to hire them to kill his wife, Blake’s lawyer said Wednesday.

Gary McLarty and Ronald “Duffy” Hambleton will probably be key witnesses in Blake’s murder trial, according to attorney Harland Braun and another source close to the case who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The problem with these witnesses is, if this is true, why didn’t they call the police?” Braun asked. “Often these kinds of witnesses have some problem in their history or they want to jump on a big case to be in the spotlight.”

Efforts to contact McLarty and Hambleton at their homes by telephone and in person were either rebuffed or ignored.

Blake was formally charged Monday with shooting his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, 44, to death after a dinner outing last May. Prosecutors said the 68-year-old Blake and his bodyguard, Earle Caldwell, had plotted the slaying for about four months.

Caldwell, 46, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Both men pleaded innocent.

Prosecutors said Blake had asked two other people to kill Bakley last year before doing it himself. They have not identified the two, and Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, declined to comment Wednesday on the names of any witnesses.

Braun is familiar with McLarty from another high-profile Hollywood case: the 1982 deaths of actor Vic Morrow and two children in an accident on a “Twilight Zone” movie set.

McLarty, the stunt coordinator for the film, was a witness in the ensuing involuntary manslaughter trial. Braun was a defense attorney.

In 1991, McLarty killed a houseguest in a shooting that was ruled justifiable self-defense. Authorities said the victim, Donald Deppe, 50, was an ex-convict with a history of violent assaults and had threatened McLarty.

According to a source close to the case, Hambleton approached Blake last year and asked if they could get together and do a movie. He was part of a group called Stunts Unlimited and wanted to do an action movie.

Blake told Hambleton he could not get involved in a movie deal because he was distracted by his involvement with Bakley and the birth of their child, the source said.

San Bernardino County court records show Hambleton, 65, is facing two misdemeanor counts of brandishing a firearm and one count of resisting arrest for a 1999 incident at his ranch. Authorities said he had called sheriff’s deputies about an intruder, but no one was found.

Also expected to testify is William Welch, a retired police officer who works as a private investigator. The source said Welch would claim Blake told him that his life would be much better if Bakley was dead.

In another development, Blake’s adult daughter, Delinah, this week petitioned for temporary guardianship of Rosie, the nearly 2-year-old girl he and Bakley had. Blake currently has custody.

The matter was put off until a court commissioner can hear the case. Attorney Barry Felsen, who represents the adult daughter, said she was anxious to have legal authority in case any medical emergency arose.

In the “Twilight Zone” accident, Morrow and child actors Myca Le, 7, and Renee Chen, 6, were killed when a helicopter crashed during an action scene.

McLarty, who was in the helicopter, testified that Morrow had asked to do dangerous stunts himself and had resisted efforts to use a stunt double. Producer John Landis and four others were acquitted of involuntary manslaughter by a jury in 1987.