DETROIT – The murder trial for Bob Bashara will begin 9 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7, Judge Vonda Evans decided on Friday.
The trial originally was expected to start Monday. However, due to a potential Detroit Tigers playoff game in Detroit on Monday, the judge decided to push the trial start to Tuesday to avoid an interruption which would keep jurors out of the courtroom.
That's because if there is a Tigers game on Monday in Detroit, no jurors for any case would show up to the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice due to the court's preemptive order.
Friday's hearing was, in fact, the last one before this case goes to trial. Judge Evans is allowing Bashara to sit next to his attorneys during the trial after the defense said it was concerned conversations between Bashara and attorneys would be overheard.
The Grosse Pointe Park man is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly arranging the death of his wife.
Jane Bashara was found strangled in 2012.
A handyman, Joe Gentz, is in prison for second-degree murder after saying he killed her on Bashara's orders.
The 56-year-old Bashara is in prison for trying to have the handyman killed. He's eligible for parole in 2019.
-- Jane Bashara