Judge Denies Bashara Jury Testimony Transcripts, Legal Dictionary
DETROIT (WWJ) - A judge has turned down several requests from jurors deliberating the fate of a Grosse Pointe Park man charged with arranging his wife's murder, while he was having affairs and exploring bondage and masochism with other women.
The jury of nine men and three women have been seated since October 10, listening to witness after witness and theory after theory, trying to decide if Bob Bashara is responsible for his wife Jane's January 2012 death.
The jury on Friday asked Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Vonda Evans for transcripts from certain witnesses, but Evans denied their request. Instead, she told the jurors to rely on their collective memories, saying she didn't want "trial by transcripts."
The jury also asked for a legal dictionary but again, Evans said no. After the jury specifically asked for the definition of "vitriolic," Assistant Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey went to get a dictionary for the exact definition. (It means "filled with bitter criticism or malice," by the way)
It wasn't all rejections for the jury, though -- Evans did grant their request for dry-erase markers.
Bashara, who turns 57 on Friday, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife Jane, whose body was found in her SUV in Detroit.
Jurors have heard testimony from police, Bob Bashara's children, mother and friends — and even girlfriends who talked about his sex dungeon; He was referred to as "Master Bob."
There's no dispute that Bob Bashara was having an affair. Prosecutors say he wanted his wife out of the way so he could pursue a new life with others as part of an alternative sexual lifestyle known as BDSM.
A handyman, Joe Gentz, admits he strangled Jane Bashara at the couple's Grosse Pointe Park home in 2012. He's in prison for second-degree murder but refused to testify against Bob Bashara.
Prosecutor Rob Moran argued that there's a "ton of motive" for Bob Bashara to want his wife dead — painting the defendant as being obsessed with his mistress, Rachel Gillett.
The defense countered that his affair was just a fling — and that he wouldn't want to kill Jane Bashara because she was the breadwinner in the household. Defense attorney Michael McCarthy added that Bob Bashara could have continued his affairs without having his wife killed.
Bob Bashara is currently in prison for trying to have Gentz killed in jail in 2012. He's eligible for parole in that case in 2019.
