VAN NUYS, Calif. — Jurors in the murder trial of actor Robert Blake were sent home early Friday because of a death in the family of Blake's defense attorney Gerald Schwartzbach.

Blake and another member of his defense team sat in the hallway before court began, talking quietly to Schwartzbach, who appeared stone-faced and somber, but did not discuss the matter with reporters.

Luis Mendoza, an FBI informant who testified Thursday, was briefly recalled to the stand Friday morning to discuss a conversation he had with Blake several months before Bonny Lee Bakley was murdered.

Mendoza previously testified that Blake recruited him in the fall of 2000 to try to get Bakley arrested for violating the terms of her federal probation. When he was unsuccessful in helping the actor, Mendoza said, Blake became "very upset" and told him a story about his grandfather.

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"He said his grandfather told him when he was a kid, 'If you delegate things to people and they don't do them, you might as well do them yourself," Mendoza told jurors.

Mendoza's anecdote was offered to bolster the prosecution's theory that when Blake couldn't convince two former stuntmen to kill Bakley, he pulled the trigger himself on May 4, 2001, as she sat in his parked car.

Prosecutors say the actor hated Bakley and was obsessed with keeping her away from their infant daughter, Rosie. Blake maintains he had nothing to do with Bakley's shooting death.

During a brief cross-examination, Mendoza conceded that he did not recall the grandfather story until meeting with prosecutors this week.

"He never asked you to do anything illegal, did he?" Schwartzbach asked. "He never asked you to physically harm Bonny Bakley?"

Mendoza answered "No," to both questions.

Jurors also heard from Daryl Bailey, Bakley's federal probation officer in Arkansas, who testified that he received a call from Blake's private investigator, William Jordan, in September 2000, notifying him that Bakley was in California in violation of her probation.

Bailey said Bakley returned to Arkansas and was put on electronic monitoring and home detention.

Previous witnesses have testified that Bakley was on probation for charges stemming from credit-card and identity fraud, and Bailey's testimony came as a prelude to expected testimony next week about Blake's alleged plot to kidnap baby Rosie.

Prosecutors say Blake conned Bakley into visiting him with the baby and then forced her to leave Rosie in his care after secretly contacting her probation officer.

According to Bailey, Bakley was granted an approved visit back to California a week after her probation violation in order to try to get Rosie back. She was also allowed to return in November to marry Blake after the couple signed an extensive prenuptial agreement.

Robert Blake is charged with one count of murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait and two counts of soliciting two former stuntmen to kill Bakley.

He faces life in prison if convicted.

Blake's adult daughter Delinah has permanent custody of Rosie, now 4.