Update: Judge Kenneth King on Friday ordered Bob Bashara to stand trial for the murder of his wife, Jane.
King, left, said he made his decision after five days of testimony about Bashara's relationship with Joe Gentz, who has admitted killing Jane Bashara; plus changing alibis, hundreds of phone calls and murder-for-hire allegations.
"This is way too bizarre," King said.
The judge said he also made his own observations of Bashara's behavior in the courtroom.
King said Bashara was "going to town" on his lips with his tongue when Rachel Gillett, his sex slave and longtime mistress, was testifying. Earlier in the week, he reprimanded Bashara for having nonverbal communication with Rachel Gillett -- patting his heart when she was testifying. Bashara told the judge he had a rash on his chest that he was scratching.
Prosecutors allege Bashara had Jane Bashara killed because he wanted to enter into a BDSM menage a trois with two women in a Grosse Pointe house. According to testimony this week, Bashara said a divorce from Jane would be too costly.
Background:
The death of Jane Bashara, right, a popular marketing executive from Grosse Pointe Park, and the kinky details of her husband's secret life, have captured national attention since she was was strangled in her garage in January 2012 and her body was dumped in an East Side Detroit alley inside her Mercedes SUV.
Bob Bashara, 55, is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit murder, suborning of perjury during a capital trial, witness intimidation and obstruction of justice.
Bashara already is serving a 6- to 20-year sentence after he pleaded guilty in October to trying to hire a furniture store owner to kill Joe Gentz while the St. Clair Shores handyman was in jail.
Gentz, left, a handyman and acquaintance of Bashara's pleaded guilty to killing Jane Bashara and was sentenced to 17-28 years in prison. He also has maintained Bashara hired him to commit the murder.
Friday's testimony highlights:
* Venita Porter, a self-described “submissive,” said she had a nearly three-year relationship with Bashara, including “breath play” – erotic asphyxiation – while she was living in Bob's Mack Avenue sex dungeon and attending church with Bob and Jane every Sunday and going to Rotary Club meetings with Bob. She also went to volleyball games involving Bashara’s daughter.
* Porter and Bashara had a falling out, and he made veiled threats against her and her children. But he sought her out after Jane died. Porter said Bashara changed his alibi for the day of Jane’s death.
* Porter also testified that a subsequent meeting in Hines Park, Bashara pulled into some bushes and “grabbed me by my neck, lifted me to my toes, and kissed me. “I kept my hand on my box cutters in my pocket, and I hoped that I was going to live.”
* Bashara asked her to come back to the house he had shared with Jane to stay with him. “I said, ‘Bob, that’s crazy.’”
* Richard Falcinelli, whose BDSM handles are in "Midnight Rider" or "Sir Rick,” was a business partner who said Bashara asked him to set up an account for him – while he was in jail – on a BDSM website.
* Larry Ellington, Bashara’s celly in prison, said Bashara wanted him to have Joe Gentz and two other men killed.
* Once, when they were playing cards, Bashara got mad and called Ellington “Buckwheat,” left, an apparent racist reference to the character on the popular “Little Rascals” short films from the pre-World War II era. Later, in a holding cell in front of other inmates, Bashara called Ellington a “rat.”
* Elaine Stratelak, a friend of Jane Bashara's, said Bob predicted Joe Gentz, who has been said to have a low IQ, would be found incompetent, and then authorities would have no case against him.
