New Attorneys Assigned In Grosse Pointe Park Murder Case
DETROIT (WWJ) - Accused wife killer Bob Bashara won't be going on trial in March. Instead, a Wayne County Judge has agreed to allow two new attorneys to be assigned to the case.
WWJ Newsradio 950's Kathryn Larson reported the defendant, seemingly in food spirits, walked into court on Tuesday armed with handwritten notes on a sheet of yellow legal paper.
He asked Judge Vonda Evans to remove his legal counsel, attorney Mark Procida.
Procida said he understood why his former client wanted a new lawyer, after he himself was unable to get Bashara all the sealed evidence.
"That's why we tried to get him a laptop," Procida said. "He's got nothing but time at the moment, so he would be able to go through that, as oppose to us sitting there for hundreds of hours playing the tapes."
Although Procida insisted that the sheer volume of evidence makes this a special case, Judge Evans denied the laptop request.
Evans appointed public defenders David Cripps and Gabi Silver as replacements.
Bashara, 55, is accused of hiring another man to kill his wife, Jane Bashara, who was beaten and strangled at the couple's Grosse Pointe Park home in January, 2012. Her body was found in her vehicle, which was abandoned in a Detroit alley.
Handyman Joe Gentz is in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, in exchange for his testimony in Bob Bashara's case.
He has said Bashara threatened to kill him unless he followed orders and killed Jane Bashara.
Bob Bashara pleaded guilty last year to trying to have Gentz killed in jail. He's repeatedly denied having anything to do with his wife's death.
Judge Evans said she'll naming a third defense lawyer at Bashara's next hearing, set for March 11.
MORE: Grosse Pointe Park Man Charged In Wife's Murder Calls Her 'Wonderful'
