Handyman Joe Gentz Reiterates In Court That Bob Bashara Watched Wife Die

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) Handyman Joe Gentz took the stand again Tuesday in the ongoing saga that is his former pal Bob Bashara's quest for a new trial.

Gentz was on the hot seat after switching stories several times about whether Bashara hired him to kill his wife Jane Bashara. First he implicated Bashara, then he swore he was innocent, then in a bombshell court appearance he most recently said Bashara not only paid him, he was there was Jane was killed, watched her die, and cradled her body, apologizing, after it was done.

"I'm telling you he was there," Gentz reiterated Tuesday to Judge Vonda Evans in the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice.

Trying to explain his ever-changing story, he later said: "I'm not that bright, I know I'm not that bright."

There was four of them at the scene who know the truth, he said, including himself, Bob Bashara, Jane Bashara and God. "God?" Evans asked.

Bashara is behind bars, found guilty of hiring Joe Gentz  to kill his wife, allegedly so Bashara could devote himself to a life of bondage and domination with a mistress. Gentz had previously signed an affidavit saying Bashara is innocent and he was the lone killer of Jane Bashara

Based on that, Bashara is trying to get a new trial and Gentz was presumably testifying to help him by saying he had been coerced by law enforcement to implicate Bashara.

But it didn't work out like that.

Last time he was on the stand, Gentz sent shockwaves through the courtroom when he suddenly described Jane Bashara's alleged death scene, saying he broke her neck after Bob handed him a gun following an argument with his wife and told him to "shut her up." "He says 'do it now,'" Gentz said.

Before the latest plot twist, Gentz had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder under a plea deal after testifying that Bashara offered him $8,000, plus a Cadillac and a ring, in exchange for killing his wife Jane Bashara in their Grosse Pointe home.

He described a scene where he said Bob Bashara asked him to come over and help him move boxes. The Basharas were arguing in the garage when he arrived as Jane Bashara told her husband to "get his sh** out of the garage" Gentz said.

Bashara handed him a gun, and then, Gentz said: "I broke her neck, I'll be honest, I did do it."

Gentz said Bashara then stood over his wife's lifeless body and said, "I'm sorry baby, I didn't mean it."

After she was dead, her breasts were exposed in her green sweater and there was blood on the garage floor, Gentz said. He said after Bashara tenderly apologized to his wife's body, they trundled her into the vehicle for Gentz to dump in Detroit.

"Who is we?" the judge asked. "Me and Bob," Gentz said.

Bashara is trying to get another trial, claiming he had a shoddy defense. A jury convicted him in December 2014 of first-degree murder in his wife's 2012 death.

Nearly 500 pieces of evidence were presented, more than 70 witnesses took the stand, and sometimes salacious testimony about dungeons, whippings and sex parties peppered the 10-week trial.

Prosecutors argued that Bashara wanted his wife out of the way so he could pursue a new life with other women, who referred to him as "Master Bob" as part of an alternative sexual lifestyle known as BDSM. The defense countered that Bashara's affair was just a fling — and that he wouldn't want to kill Jane because she was the breadwinner in the household.

Gentz chose not to testify during the trial, but purportedly told police that Bashara forced him to strangle Jane in the couple's garage and then ordered him to leave her body in her Mercedes-Benz in a Detroit alley. Later he proclaimed Bashara was interested.

During the trial, Bashara was already in prison for trying to have Gentz killed in jail in 2012. Gentz is presently serving 17-to-28 years in prison after pleading guilty to second degree murder in the case.

After a morning's worth of testimony from Gentz in Bashara's search for a new trial, the defense rested. The judge will allow both sides to present a closing argument July 14 when a decision will presumably be rendered.