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Crime & Safety

Joe Gentz Waives Preliminary Exam in Bashara Case

Bashara murder trial moves forward to Wayne County Circuit Court.

Joe Gentz, the handyman charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the January strangulation death of Grosse Pointe Park's Jane E. Bashara, waived his right to a preliminary exam this morning, according to a report by Maria Miller, spokeswoman for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office. 

In a short proceeding before 36th District Court Chief Judge Kenneth King, Gentz said he understood his rights and waived the preliminary examination.  

According to the Detroit Free Press, after the hearing Gentz’s attorney, Susan Reed, told reporters that there wasn't a need to hold a preliminary exam and that currently there were no plea negotiations with prosecutors.

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If convicted, Gentz is facing up to life in prison on both of the charges.

Bob Bashara is currently held at the Wayne County Jail on a $15 million cash-only bond after he was arrested for solicitation to murder Joe Gentz. Bob Bashara was arrested in June—exactly five months after his wife's body was found in the back of her SUV in Detroit. He is accused of hiring and making partial payment to a person to kill Joe Gentz while he was in jail.

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Although Bob Bashara was identified as a person of interest early on in the investigation into his wife's death by Grosse Pointe Park police. He has not been charged in her death. 

Judge King bound Gentz over to the Wayne County Third Circuit Court for the arraignment on Oct. 11, Miller reported.

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