Bashara Attorney Wants Off The Case

GROSSE POINTE PARK (WWJ) - Bob Bashara's attorney David Griem has filed an emergency motion to be removed from the case.

WWJ Newsradio 950 has learned that Griem will be in Detroit's 36th District Court for a hearing on that request at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

Bashara is in jail, accused of trying to hire a hit man to take out the man who claims Bashara hired him to kill his wife, Jane.

WWJ Legal Analyst and Talk Radio host 1270 host Charlie Langton says he would be curious to know the reasons for the withdrawal.

"I  believe there's been some trust issue between Griem and Bashara," said Langton. "Something in the way that the case would go forward -- something in the way that either Griem is either doing or not doing in the case, something between the two of them that has fallen apart so that Griem believe that he now cannot give a good, solid defense to Bob Bashara."

Griem has withdrawn from a high-profile murder case before.  He dropped defendant Stephen Grant before the Macomb County man, in 2007, was convicted of second-degree murder for killing and dismembering his wife, Tara.

Griem declined a recorded interview on the topic, but, in a typed statement he provided to WWJ, Griem said it would "serve no useful purpose" to reveal the reasons behind his withdrawal, saying it would only add to "the media feeding frenzy" that will make it difficult for Bashara to get a fair trial.

View a copy of Griem's statement, along with the court paperwork, at this link. (.pdf format).

The body of Jane Bashara, a marketing executive and mother of two, was found in the back of her Mercedes-Benz SUV parked in an alley at Pinewood and Annott in Detroit on Jan. 25. Her husband reported her missing the night before. An autopsy showed that she had extensive bruising to her upper body, a crushed windpipe and missing fingernails.

(Catch up on this case here).