No New Trial For Bob Bashara In Wife's Murder, Judge Rules

DETROIT (WWJ) - There will be no second chance at freedom for Bob Bashara as a judge has formally rejected one-time Grosse Pointe Park businessman's request for a new trial in his wife's murder.

Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Vonda Evans handed down the decision early Friday afternoon, saying all motions were denied.

In a lengthy preamble to her judgement, Evans summed up the case.

"You planned, groomed and mastermind this pitiful plot to murder your wife and dump her body in Detroit like garbage," Evans told Bashara.

"You would finally be able to be free to live your new life in the seedy, manipulative lifestyle you dreamed of — financed exclusively by Jane's money. But what you did not realize is a person you called an idiot would reveal your manipulative plan to rid yourself of your Jane; that this idiot that you claimed would be the one to outmaneuver Master Bob."

Bashara had claimed his bondage-laden sex life was unfairly put on display during trial in 2014, when a jury found him guilty of murder and conspiracy in connection with the death of his wife, Jane Bashara.

Bashara also said that his attorneys didn't do a good job with his defense, didn't give him enough discovery to look over and that they failed to tell the jury that he and his wife had an understanding, and that she gave him permission for his lifestyle.

In her opinion, Evans said, Bashara's attorneys did a more than adequate job and that "there was no miscarriage of justice." She cited statements by lawyer Lillian Diallo that he was a full participant in his defense and "did what he wanted to do."

Bashara, a former Rotary Club president, was accused of forcing Gentz, his handyman, to strangle Jane Bashara at the couple's Grosse Pointe Park home in 2012.

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 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 a BDSM alternative sexual lifestyle. 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 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.

The handyman has since changed his story a couple of times; but in May reconfirmed in a detailed statement that Bashara had ordered his wife's killing and watched her die.

During the trial, Bashara was already in prison for trying to have Gentz killed in jail in 2012, saying it was revenge for his wife's killing.

Gentz is presently serving 17-to-28 years in prison after pleading guilty to second degree murder.