Prosecutor: Bob Bashara Was 'The Puppet Master' Who Arranged Wife's Murder In Grosse Pointe Park
DETROIT (CBS Detroit) - The trial of a Grosse Pointe Park man accused of arranging his wife's murder in 2012 is underway in Wayne County Circuit Court.
Bob Bashara, 56, is charged with first degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation of murder in the death of Jane Bashara.
Joseph Gentz, a handyman who confessed he carried out her killing under Bob Bashara's orders, is in prison for second-degree murder.
In her lengthy opening statement, Assistant Wayne County prosecutor Lisa Lindsey said the evidence will show that, while Gentz "did the physical act" of killing Jane Bashara — and DNA will prove that — he did it under Bob Bashara's direction.
"He set the whole thing in motion behind the scenes," said Lindsey, referring to Bob Bashara as "the puppet master."
While Lindsey spoke, a straight-faced, dark-suited Bob Bashara watched her, quite still, only blinking.
Lindsey said witness Paul Monroe will testify that Bob Bashara admitted to him that he paid Gentz to kill his wife, because divorcing her "would be like losing money"; and that Bob Bashara had told two other people — a month before the killing — that it would be the last Christmas he would spend with his wife in their family home.
Lindsey also spoke about how Bob Bashara, a landlord, allegedly "put out feelers" to find someone who would "rough up a tenant" for money, or who could "do a hit and run."
"The defendant was obviously looking for someone to do violence, and he found that person when he found Joseph Gentz," Lindsey said.
Lindsay told jurors that phone records will show Bob Bashara and Gentz talked the night before the murder.
"The last call the defendant makes at night, the day before the murder, is to Joseph Gentz," Lindsey said. "...You're gonna hear testimony about Gentz's intellectual capabilities. The defendant is not calling him so they can discuss Einstein's theory of relativity."
In her brief opening statement, Bob Bashara's attorney Lillian Diallo said the defense will prove the killing was not so carefully orchestrated.
"This is the day Mr. Bashara has been waiting for," said Diallo.
"What happened was an atrocity. What Mr. Gentz did was an atrocity, and we are going to agree on that, and then we are going to disagree on the method," she said. "What Ms. Lindsey said, is it was something that was very, very calculated. It didn't appear that way. It seemed as though the way, the unkindly way, the unfortunate way, that Mrs. Bashara died was (by the hand of) somebody that was lashing out."
Diallo said prosecutions witnesses, such as Monroe, that will speak on these allegations are not to be trusted, suggesting that Monroe, specifically, has changed his story multiple times and eventually came forward with false information because he wanted to feel "like a star."
Authorities say Jane Bashara was beaten and strangled at the couple's Grosse Pointe Park home. Her body was left in a car in a Detroit alley.
Lindsey said the defense may try to present evidence of the random killing of a suburban a woman who was "victimized in Detroit," in an attempt to prove "some thug must have carjacked her, kidnapped her."
Lindsey told jurors that they'll likely hear how Jane Bashara smoked marijuana, and that maybe she'd visited Detroit to buy drugs.
Showing photos of the crime scene, Lindsey said there was "evidence of staging" in the car; but asserted that if Jane Bashara had been killed in a random carjacking, her checkbook, credit and debit cards and cell phone would have been taken. They were not.
Prosecutors claim Bashara had his wife killed so he could live a new life with a woman who called him "Master Bob."
The prosecution, on a projection screen, presented emails from Bob Bashara to his admitted mistress, Rachel Gillett, saying that his relationship with his wife was over, and that a life-changing event was coming.
Referring to Gillett his "slave" Bob Bashara wrote, "...you are collared to me."
According to Lindsey, evidence will show that Bob Bashara and Gillett, in 2011, went house hunting to find a place where they could live with "another slave" — a second woman — to as part of a"BSDM fantasy." (BDSM stands for bondage, discipline and sadomasochism.
Jurors will likely hear testimony about a "sex dungeon" Bashara allegedly spent time in as part of his BDSM lifestyle.
Diallo said that, while stories about her client's BDSM activities might pull people in, it has "had nothing to do with the death of Jane Bashara."
According to Diallo, Jane Bashara knew all about it, telling a friend awhile back that her husband was "getting into some weird sexual stuff," that she wanted no part of it, and that Bob Bashara "could do whatever he wanted to do."
Lindsey said that another landlord, Rebecca Forton, will offer testimony as to how Gentz and the defendant related to one another — indicating that Bob Bashara was clearly "in charge" and "in control" of Gentz, while the three worked on a deal to rent an apartment for Gentz and his daughter.
Lindsey said evidence will show that that control continued over time and culminated with Jane's Bashara's murder.
Lindsey also spoke about the morning Gentz turned himself, admitting to the killing — allegedly because he feared for his own life.
"Joe would rather go to the police at three in the morning and get himself locked up then be on the same streets as the defendant, Robert Bashara," Lindsey said.
Bob Bashara is already serving prison time, after he pleaded guilty to trying to have Gentz killed in jail.
Gentz said last week that he won't testify in the case, his lawyer saying his client is worried that Bob Bashara could still make good on that threat.
Diallo said that, while it's true that her client had a discussion about wanting Gentz dead, it was not because he wanted his handyman's silence. Diallo said it was instead because Gentz "was the confessed murder of [Bob Bashara's] wife of 26 years."
Diallo urged the 11 men and five women on the jury to listen carefully and "with an open mind" as it's "time for the second half of the story to be told."
Diallo repeated multiple times that prosecutors have the burden on their side to prove their case against the defendant.
She said this has been "a very heavy handed prosecution from day one, and heavy handed doesn't mean guilty."
Earlier Tuesday, Jurors were given their instructions. Judge Vonda Evans told jurors not to watch television, read, listen to or watch any news reports or to research any aspect of the case during the trial, on the Internet or elsewhere. Jurors were also instructed not to discuss the case with anyone, including on social media.
Before proceedings began, Bob Bashara told Judge Evans he spent the night in the hospital, but was feeling better.
The trial is expected to last several weeks.
