Jurors in murder for hire case: Bashara arrogant, liar
Interviews with reporters, secretly recorded conversations, e-mails and text messages presented during the months-long trial are some of what swayed the jury into convicting Bob Bashara of first-degree murder and other charges in connection with his wife's death.
"The most damning evidence, in my opinion, was that he talked to too many people," said juror Joe Fernandez, 55, of Detroit. "He basically told everybody what he was trying to do."
Fernandez and fellow juror Regis Johnson had strong words to describe the former Grosse Pointe Park businessman: monster, narcissist, sociopath, master manipulator, arrogant.
"He was a pathological liar," Johnson, of Detroit, said.
The jury convicted Bashara last month and, on Thursday, the 57-year-old was sentenced to life in prison.
Bashara was found guilty on five counts: first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, solicitation of murder, obstruction of justice and witness intimidation in the death of his wife, Jane Bashara, in January 2012.
She was discovered strangled on Jan. 25, 2012, in her SUV, which had been dumped in an alley on Detroit's east side. Prosecutors said Bashara had his former handyman, Joseph Gentz, kill his wife.
The brutality of her death impacted jurors, who were shown photographs from the scene where Jane Bashara's body was found, as well as images taken during her autopsy.
"To see that this lady, Mrs. Bashara ... the life was literally ... stomped out of her or choked out of her with somebody's feet, while her husband watched, it saddened and sickened me, and I think it affected most of us," Johnson said.
Dozens of witnesses testified, but Gentz wasn't one of them. An account Gentz gave to a friend, though, turned out to be key for the jurors.
Lorna Beth Riikonen testified that Gentz told her the month before Jane Bashara's death that "somebody had offered him some money to take someone out."
She said Gentz told her that person was "Basher, Basher."
"I found her credible in the sense that she had no reason to lie," Johnson said.
Fernandez agreed.
"We felt that she was telling the truth that there was nothing for her to gain out of the whole thing," said Fernandez, who added that when Riikonen testified Gentz told her someone named "Basher" had hired him to kill someone "that had a lot of impact because where would she get those words."
He said "that was a clever move on the prosecution to bring that up."
Prosecutors have said Bashara's relationship with his longtime mistress, Rachel Gillett, was a motive for the crime. The two participated in BDSM — bondage, discipline, sadomasochism — and had planned a life together, even looking to buy property in Grosse Pointe Park, jurors were told.Bashara, though, portrayed that he had an ideal relationship and family, Johnson said.
"Most would envy the life that he had and he ruined his along with the rest of his family," Johnson said. "He's like a cancer, and he was the source of the cancer. Everything metastasized from him."
Watching Bashara's two children testify resonated with jurors.
Jessica Bashara testified that she saw her father using a BDSM website. When she asked him about it, he told her he was on pornographic websites because he had been experiencing erectile dysfunction and wanted to know if the problem was with him or her mother."How can somebody put his kids through all that?" Fernandez asked.
He also questioned Bashara's actions after his wife went missing, only calling her phone a couple of times. Fernandez said if his wife hadn't been home by 2 a.m., he would have been calling her every minute.
"He knew where she was, basically that's what came to my mind," Fernandez said. "That she wasn't going to answer the phone."
Jurors even questioned Bashara's emotions in the court room. He occasionally cried during the trial, including when there was testimony about the injuries his wife suffered.
"Was he crying for himself or was he crying because (he was) having remorse?" Johnson said.
Fernandez said he thinks if Bashara were free, he would continue living the life he had been before his wife's murder. He also believes Bashara would try to win back his former girlfriend.
"I don't think he has learned anything," Fernandez said.