Bob Bashara Found Guilty Of Murder, Conspiracy For Ordering Wife's Death

 DETROIT (WWJ) - Bob Bashara has been found guilty on all counts in the death of his wife.

The former Grosse Pointe Park businessman and Rotary Club president was accused of forcing handyman Joe Gentz to strangle Jane Bashara at the couple's Grosse Pointe Park home in 2012.

WWJ's Marie Osborne reported Bob Bashara appeared, for the most part, emotionless as the verdict was read for each charge: first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit murder, witness intimidation and obstruction of justice — but at one point he did shake his head.

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 worked to prove Bob 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 thing the prosecutor did very, very effectively in this case was to make Bob Bashara out to be a monster, for lack of a better word," said WWJ Legal Analyst Charlie Langton. "I mean, taking girlfriends to the Bashara house, giving Jane's jewelry to some girlfriend, having sex with multiple people in the dungeon, smoking dope on the golf course — I could go on, and on and on."

The defense countered that Bob Bashara's affair was just a fling — and that he wouldn't want to kill Jane because she was the breadwinner in the household. Court-appointed defense attorney Michael McCarthy said Bob Bashara could have continued his affairs without having his wife killed.

"He's in shock, very disappointed in the verdict," McCarthy told reporters Thursday.

Langton was not surprised by the verdict.

"Because the jury was out such a short time on a very, very long case tells me that they had very little doubt, pretty much from day one," Langton said.

"It also tells me the jury made up their minds pretty much early on. And I think the reason they did was the prosecution did such a good job of basically telling everyone how bad Bob Bashara is, not to trust him, how he manipulated people."

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

Bashara, who is a diabetic, disrupted the case a total of three times due to health issues.

He's already in prison for trying to have Gentz killed in jail in 2012.

Sentencing is set for Jan. 15, 2015.  The first degree murder charge carries a mandatory penalty of life in prison without parole.

[Continuing Coverage: Bashara Murder Trial]