Bob Bshara is charged with murdering wife Jane.
Every once in a while, a big show rolls into town in the form of a very serious criminal trial. Not so long ago, we had the Kwame Kilpatrick show that captivated the attention of the local public for months on end.
In the past months, we've had the Bob Bashara trial, chock full of kinky sexual details that, for many, seemed so far fetched, something right out of a very trashy novel.
On Tuesday, closing arguments are set to begin. Then the jurors will decide whether Bashara is guilty of killing his wife Jane.
The details are summed up in stories in the Detroit News and Free Press today.
Elisha Anderson of the Detroit Free Press writes:
A sex dungeon in an affluent Detroit suburb, discussion of Hollywood-style murder-for-hire plots, mistresses and cocaine use at a private golf course.
Many details that were once private in Bob Bashara's life turned public as prosecutors laid out their case against the former Grosse Pointe Park businessman accused of masterminding the 2012 death of his wife, Jane Bashara.
The case, which garnered national attention, has been filled with scandalous twists and turns since the 56-year-old marketing executive was discovered dead on Jan. 25, 2012, in her Mercedes-Benz SUV — dumped in an alley on Detroit's east side.
George Hunter of the Detroit News writes:
After 74 witnesses and 460 exhibits, the trial in Wayne Circuit Court is finally winding down. Closing arguments are set for Tuesday, and then the jury will decide if Bashara is guilty of hiring his handyman, Joseph Gentz, to kill his wife. Prosecutors say Bashara wanted to collect her 401(k) and life insurance money and set himself up in the bondage, discipline and sadomasochistic lifestyle with his longtime girlfriend, Rachel Gillett.
A central theme throughout the trial was how Bashara, who carefully cultivated his image as "The Mayor of Middlesex" — the street on which he and Jane lived — had his friends and family bamboozled.
"You're close to someone for so many years, and you think you know him," Jane Bashara's mother, Lorraine Engelbrect, said during a break in Bashara's trial, which enters its 10th week Monday. "He had me completely fooled."
-- Allan Lengel
