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Crime & Safety

Grosse Pointers React to Bashara's Guilty Plea

Local residents show no surprise at Bob Bashara's guilty plea and hope case is handled with care.

All is quiet Thursday afternoon in front of Bob Bashara's house in Grosse Pointe Park just hours after he pleaded guilty to attempting to hire a hitman to kill Joe Gentz, the man accused of killing Bashara's wife Jane earlier this year.

Purple bows tied around trees in front of the tidy brick home are likely in memorial of Jane Bashara, who was found strangled in her SUV in January.

Thursday, two media outlets park on the street near the home and when neighbors see the return of cameras and microphones, they turn around and close their doors. They've surely tired of the media circus that has disrupted their quiet street in the secluded Windmill Pointe area.

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On the street in the Village, passersby in Caribou Coffee and Trader Joe's are more willing to talk about the case that has brought national attention to Grosse Pointe Park. Most are not surprised by the guilty plea and all hope Jane Bashara's murder case is handled carefully by prosecutors and police.

Aaron Humphreys, a barista at Caribou, said he wasn't surprised by Bashara's pleading guilty. "I kind of expected it," he said. Humphreys admitted that he hadn't heard much lately about the case.

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Tiffany Klaasen, an attorney, has watched the case unfold with interest.  Of Bashara's pleading she said, "I think justice is served."  

Asked if she thought additional charges would be forthcoming, Klaasen said, "I think they're (prosecutors) doing a good job of making sure they have proper evidence in bringing the case forward ... that will be a worthy case that will uphold."

After learning about Bashara's guilty plea today, an unnamed woman shopping at Trader Joe's said, "I'm not surprised. I think he was getting beat down. He knew it was just a matter of time."

"I just hope they take this thing (the murder trial of Jane Bashara) nice and slow, so they don't screw this thing up," she said.

Joe Gentz reportedly has told investigators that Bashara hired him to kill his wife. Bashara has not been charged in connection with his wife's death. Gentz is scheduled to be arraigned on charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder at 9 a.m. on Oct. 16.

Bashara will return to court Nov. 20 at 8:30 a.m. for sentencing. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Bashara could be sentenced up to 135 months in jail for the crime.

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