On Tuesday in Wayne County Circuit Court, the Bob Bashara show begins.
George Hunter of The Detroit News writes:
People across the country have been riveted by the case of Robert Bashara from the day he appeared on national television nearly three years ago, dabbed at his eyes and bemoaned the brutal killing of his wife.
After several bizarre twists, turns, delays and surprises, Bashara, a former church usher, charity fundraiser and Rotary Club president, is set to stand trial beginning Tuesday for the Jan. 24, 2012, murder of his wife, Jane.
"This case has everything: Sex, infidelity, murder, a prominent man from the Grosse Pointes — all the things that compel people," University of Detroit-Mercy law professor Larry Dubin said.
Liive streaming won't be allowed during the trial. At least two national TV shows plan coverage, Hunter reports.
Bashara, a gruff-looking guy, first surfaced in news reports when his wife was found dead inside her Mercedes Benz SUV in an alley on Detroit's east side.
Another element of the case that whetted people's appetites: For weeks, Bashara pleaded with the public to help find his wife's killer, even as clouds of suspicion swirled around him. Bashara is charged with first-degree murder.
Days after Jane's body was discovered, The Detroit News first reported Bashara had a girlfriend, Rachel Gillett, for whom he planned to buy a house. It was later revealed Bashara and Gillett were devotees of the bondage, discipline and sadomasochism lifestyle, and that Bashara held kinky parties in his dungeon beneath the Hard Luck Lounge, which he owned, near the border of Detroit and Grosse Pointe Park.
In 2012, he was convicted of solicitation of murder for trying to have Gentz killed in jail so he couldn't testify against him.
