Judge To Hold Hearing In Bob Bashara's Bid For New Trial
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - A Detroit-area man convicted of arranging his wife's death is returning to court to seek a new trial.
Bob Bashara's appellate lawyer will argue that his trial attorneys didn't do enough to prevent him from a first-degree murder conviction and a life sentence.
The 57-year-old, known as "Master Bob," is expected to appear on Tuesday in Wayne County court.
Bashara says the jury wasn't given enough evidence to see that Jane Bashara didn't care about his lifestyle of bondage and domination. He says he had no motive to force handyman Joe Gentz to strangle his wife at their Grosse Pointe Park home in 2012.
"Bashara says in his appeal, amongst other things, that health issues prevented him from having sex with his wife and that medical records should have been disclosed, providing the jury with an understanding of his extramarital conduct," said WWJ's Legal Analyst Charlie Langton.
The two trial attorneys say they did nothing wrong and gave Bashara the best defense, which cost taxpayers more than $275,000.
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, a former Rotary Club president who used cocaine, 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.
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.
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