Bashara charged with Solicitation of Murder, held on $15M cash bond

By Karen Hudson Samuels/Tell Us Detroit

DETROIT (Tell Us Det) - Justice is finally closing in on the brutal strangulation murder of Jane Bashara in January 2012.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kim Worthy has charged Grosse Pointe Park businessman Bob Bashara in a murder-for- hire scheme to kill Joseph Gentz, who is behind bars at Wayne County jail in Hamtramck. Gentz is the handyman Bashara is suspected of hiring to kill his wife Jane.

In a Wednesday morning press conference Worthy charged Bashara with solicitation of murder, which carries a life sentence. She confirmed there was evidence of an alleged plot to kill Gentz.

"We are alleging that the defendant, Mr. Bashara, met with another person -- not a law enforcement official -- on several occasions with the purpose of hatching a plan to kill Mr. Gentz in jail."

Worthy said Bashara wanted Gentz, who is charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder, killed before his next court hearing in July. The Prosecutor requested a $25 million dollar bond be set for Bashara.

In a video arraignment Wednesday afternoon Bashara heard the charges read against him and shook his head several times as the Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor presented her case.

She argued that Bashara had personal protection orders against him, was a flight risk and a potential threat to witnesses. The Judge listened to bother sides and set the bond at $15 million dollars, cash. If Bashara posts bond, he must wear a tether and surrender his passport and driver’s license.

Following the arraignment, Bashara's lawyer, David Griem, spoke to the media and came just short of accusing law enforcement of setting up his client. “I’ll just stop at that” he said when Tell Us Detroit asked if he was accusing police of producing the story of a hit man. Griem said his client was despondent and on suicide watch at the Wayne County jail in downtown Detroit.

Since March 5, 2012, Gentz has been incarcerated in the Wayne County Jail in Hamtramck.

Susan Reed, Gentz’s attorney attended the arraignment and said her client’s claim that his life was at risk by was vindicated. She called Bashara erratic, “I don’t believe that he is a person that can control his temperament or emotions.”

Gentz, a handyman who worked for Bob Bashara, told police he was hired by Bashara to commit the murder of Jane Bashara for $2,000 and a used Cadillac.

Jane Bashara's body was found inside her 2004 Mercedes-Benz ML35by by a tow truck operator trolling for stolen cars 0 in an alley in the area of Seven Mile and Hoover on Detroit's northeast side.