Bob Bashara Back In Court For Hearing In Wife's Death
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - One of the metro Detroit area's most notorious murder cases returned to the spotlight Monday when Bob Bashara appeared before a judge in 36th District Court.
Bashara's preliminary examination was scheduled to begin Monday morning but began late after a prisoner escape that put the courthouse on lock-down.
Bashara remained expressionless as his 79-year-old mother, Nancy, testified under oath that her son gave her a bag to put into their safety deposit box in 2012 telling her it contained coins and jewelry for his son.
On a later bank visit, she said she was shocked when she and two other family members discovered a gun stashed in a pouch inside a safety deposit box the family shared and then "didn't know what to do."
A family member later testified, with immunity, that she retrieved the gun and gave it to Bashara's attorney at the time, David Grimm who kept it in his office until this month.
The hearing will determine if there's enough evidence to try Bashara for first degree murder, and is expected to span five days.
Prosecutors say Bashara hired handyman Joe Gentz to kill his wife, Jane Bashara, in January of 2012, and Gentz says he killed Jane at Bob Bashara's behest.
Jane Bashara's body was found Jan. 24, 2012, in her Mercedes-Benz in a Detroit alley — a few miles from the couple's home in Grosse Pointe Park.
Prosecutors say they won't hold back any details of Bashara's personal life in this case, which allegedly included extramarital sexual relationships involving bondage and sadomasochism.
Bashara is already serving up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to trying to have Gentz killed in jail.
Bob Bashara has denied being involved in his wife's death. Gentz offered his testimony in the case as part of a plea agreement.
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