Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/noahjames7/public_html/modules/mod_flexi_customcode/tmpl/default.php on line 24
Strict Standards: Non-static method modFlexiCustomCode::parsePHPviaFile() should not be called statically in /home/noahjames7/public_html/modules/mod_flexi_customcode/tmpl/default.php on line 54
Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/noahjames7/public_html/components/com_grid/GridBuilder.php on line 29
Man convicted in wife’s death breaks down during testimony
0) { %>
UP NEXT
03
Bob Bashara breaks down on the stand during hearing for a new trial. Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press
DETROIT — Bob Bashara had been answering prosecutors questions for more than hour when he started to break down, asking for “a minute please.”
Wayne County Circuit Judge Vonda Evans called a break.
Then the former Grosse Pointe Park businessman, serving life in prison for his wife’s 2012 murder, pulled out a tissue, took off his glasses and wiped his right eye, then his left.
Bashara, who is seeking a new trial, returned to the Detroit courtroom a short time later and offered an explanation for his emotional behavior on the stand: The memory of informing his two children of their mother’s death came flooding back.
“It just was too much,” Bashara said.
Bashara, 57, started testifying on Thursday in his quest for a new trial, first answering questions from his appellate attorney, Ronald Ambrose, then from the prosecution.
As cross-examination continued, Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey pointed out inconsistencies with several statements Bashara has made since his wife, Jane Bashara, was killed nearly four years ago. Recorded interviews Bashara gave were played in court showing the contradictions.
In one interview with a reporter, Bashara said Joseph Gentz — his former handyman, who told authorities he killed Jane Bashara at her husband’s direction — came to his home “one time.”
But on the stand today, Bashara said that was incorrect. Evans asked him why he said it.
"I have no clue why I would say that because it’s untrue,” he responded.
Last year, a jury convicted Bashara of first-degree murder and other charges in Jane Bashara’s death. She was strangled, and her body was discovered on Detroit's east side.
Her husband, officials have said, orchestrated her death and conspired with Gentz to carry out the murder.
Gentz accepted a plea deal and is serving 17-28 years in prison for second-degree murder. As part of the deal, he agreed to testify, but later refused. In a motion filed seeking a new trial, Bashara took issue with the fact that he was unable to confront Gentz during the trial.
Bashara also claims he wanted others to take the stand and said they weren’t called by his trial attorneys.
One of the people he said he wanted to testify was Chief David Hiller, director of public safety for Grosse Pointe Park. Bashara contends Hiller had a "grudge" against him stemming, in part, from an investigation in the 1990s into allegations that Bashara inappropriately touched a child.
Bashara’s former attorney, Michael McCarthy, previously testified that calling Hiller wouldn’t have helped the defense and could have “opened up a can of worms" that had to do with the allegation.
Bashara was never charged in connection with that investigation and denies any wrongdoing.
Although Bashara now takes issue with his former trial attorneys, McCarthy and Lillian Diallo, he acknowledged he previously praised their efforts in a letter read aloud by Lindsey. She also pointed out his defense team had successes, including preventing some information from being brought up during the trial.
McCarthy and Diallo have said they provided Bashara with a solid defense. Both testified last month when the hearing started.
Bashara is serving his life sentence at the Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee. His evidentiary hearing, spanning five days so far, resumes Monday.
Contributing: Gina Damron
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1RNz7cm
style="position: relative; left: -35%;" />
0) { %>
0) { %> 0) { %>
Man convicted in wife’s death breaks down during testimony
style="position: relative; left: -35%;" /> 0) { %>
UP NEXT
03
Bob Bashara breaks down on the stand during hearing for a new trial. Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press
DETROIT — Bob Bashara had been answering prosecutors questions for more than hour when he started to break down, asking for “a minute please.”
Wayne County Circuit Judge Vonda Evans called a break.
Then the former Grosse Pointe Park businessman, serving life in prison for his wife’s 2012 murder, pulled out a tissue, took off his glasses and wiped his right eye, then his left.
Bashara, who is seeking a new trial, returned to the Detroit courtroom a short time later and offered an explanation for his emotional behavior on the stand: The memory of informing his two children of their mother’s death came flooding back.
“It just was too much,” Bashara said.
Bashara, 57, started testifying on Thursday in his quest for a new trial, first answering questions from his appellate attorney, Ronald Ambrose, then from the prosecution.
As cross-examination continued, Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey pointed out inconsistencies with several statements Bashara has made since his wife, Jane Bashara, was killed nearly four years ago. Recorded interviews Bashara gave were played in court showing the contradictions.
In one interview with a reporter, Bashara said Joseph Gentz — his former handyman, who told authorities he killed Jane Bashara at her husband’s direction — came to his home “one time.”
But on the stand today, Bashara said that was incorrect. Evans asked him why he said it.
"I have no clue why I would say that because it’s untrue,” he responded.
Last year, a jury convicted Bashara of first-degree murder and other charges in Jane Bashara’s death. She was strangled, and her body was discovered on Detroit's east side.
Her husband, officials have said, orchestrated her death and conspired with Gentz to carry out the murder.
Gentz accepted a plea deal and is serving 17-28 years in prison for second-degree murder. As part of the deal, he agreed to testify, but later refused. In a motion filed seeking a new trial, Bashara took issue with the fact that he was unable to confront Gentz during the trial.
Bashara also claims he wanted others to take the stand and said they weren’t called by his trial attorneys.
One of the people he said he wanted to testify was Chief David Hiller, director of public safety for Grosse Pointe Park. Bashara contends Hiller had a "grudge" against him stemming, in part, from an investigation in the 1990s into allegations that Bashara inappropriately touched a child.
Bashara’s former attorney, Michael McCarthy, previously testified that calling Hiller wouldn’t have helped the defense and could have “opened up a can of worms" that had to do with the allegation.
Bashara was never charged in connection with that investigation and denies any wrongdoing.
Although Bashara now takes issue with his former trial attorneys, McCarthy and Lillian Diallo, he acknowledged he previously praised their efforts in a letter read aloud by Lindsey. She also pointed out his defense team had successes, including preventing some information from being brought up during the trial.
McCarthy and Diallo have said they provided Bashara with a solid defense. Both testified last month when the hearing started.
Bashara is serving his life sentence at the Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee. His evidentiary hearing, spanning five days so far, resumes Monday.
Contributing: Gina Damron
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1RNz7cm
0) { %>
0) { %> 0) { %>
Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/noahjames7/public_html/modules/mod_flexi_customcode/tmpl/default.php on line 24
Strict Standards: Non-static method modFlexiCustomCode::parsePHPviaFile() should not be called statically in /home/noahjames7/public_html/modules/mod_flexi_customcode/tmpl/default.php on line 54
Find out more by searching for it!
Custom Search