Bail hearing set for actor Robert Blake

Blake, right, is shown in court Monday with attorney Harland Braun.

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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A bail hearing for actor Robert Blake -- accused of murdering his wife, will be held Wednesday morning, a judge ruled Monday.

In addition, a preliminary hearing for Blake was set for December 11.

Bonny Lee Bakley, 44, Blake's wife of six months, was shot in the head May 4, 2001, as she sat in Blake's car outside a Studio City restaurant where they had just eaten.

Earle Caldwell, Blake's one-time bodyguard, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and has been released on $1 million bail, posted by Blake.

Blake, who has been in jail since April 18, has not been eligible for bail before now because the special circumstance of "lying in wait" is included in the charges.

Prosecutors have said they can prove that Blake had planned to set up an ambush of his wife, unsuccessfully trying to find a hit man to kill her before finally deciding to shoot her himself. Blake has denied killing Bakley.

But Blake's attorney, Harland Braun, predicted his client will be freed on bail because there is "no physical evidence" that Blake shot his wife or that he was lying in wait to do so.

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