GUILTY MI - Jane Bashara, 56, dies in contract killing, Grosse Pointe Park, 25 Jan 2012 #4

[atthelake]

"Judge Evans asked if it surprised the agent that someone would lie about an affair. He said people have done that in the past." - tweet from George Hunter. I have never heard a judge ask a witness a general question like this (relating to facts of the case) -- I've heard them state procedural things during a trial, but nothing like this! Anyone?

Grammy, she is doing that A LOT so far!!! Wierd to me too. I'm just cutting/pasting tweets that have #bobbashara, so thanks for catching the ones that I'm missing! :blowkiss:

 

[atthelake]

Carmen Martinez ‏@CarmenMTZ - both Bob and Jane's phones use same tower - then shortly after that Jane's phone begins to mov

voodoomojo ‏@voodoomojostuff (I think this is a tongue in cheek and those are all the bloggers at trial vs. his "fan club")

 

[atthelake]

[Guys, I'm new to tweeting as a week or two ago...I think I'm missing a LOT by just doing #bobbashara. Sorry. I need to learn how to do multiple folks I want to follow in one screen... perhaps after court someone can help me lol]

Mandi Wright ‏@DetroitMandi Graphic shows the towers Jane Bashara's cell was utilizing in the evening she was missing.

George Hunter ‏@GeorgeHunter_DN So far in the #bobbashara trial, there have been 16 witnesses. Back on the record in #bobbashara case, with FBI Agent Hess continuing testimony.

 

[atthelake]

George Hunter ‏@GeorgeHunter_DN Back on the record in #bobbashara case, with FBI Agent Hess continuing testimony. At about 6:26, both #bobbashara's and Jane's phone were using the same cell phone towers. A few minutes later, cell towers show #bobbashara moved toward the Hard Luck Lounge - in the same building as his sex dungeon.

Carmen Martinez ‏@CarmenMTZ Presumably from people looking for her since she seemed to be missing.Bob's phone went up toward the bar

 

[atthelake]

George Hunter @GeorgeHunter_DN · FBI Agent Hess is done. Next witness: Janet Leehmann, the woman from Oregon.#bobbashara “was the only nice person” who contacted her on http://alt.com , out of “hundreds,” she said. Judge asked Leehmann why she chose http://alt.com , and Lindsey said she had questions tailored a certain way, and will ask later. Leehman, on why she chose http://alt.com : "I can't wait to tell you." There was another guy on alt Janet told to "shove off" and Bob told this guy, "Keep your hands off my property." Bob called her 'Slave J'. Janet: "He told me he was looking for a 3rd, and I told him I didn't want to be a 3rd wheel. He said, 'no, it wouldn't be like that.'" Janet said Bob's plan was for her to move in with him and "Bella" -- Bob's name for Rachel. Text message from Bob: "My father was a big time judge."Bob called her "Little One" in a text. Said "It's important for you to hit it off (with Rachel)." #bobbashara “was the only nice person” who contacted her on http://alt.com , out of “hundreds,” she said.

Mandi Wright ‏@DetroitMandi Janet Leehmann takes the stand

Mandi Wright ‏@DetroitMandi 17m17 minutes ago Hess testified that Jane's phone could still talk to towers if it was left on. Pic. shows her car/cell

Carmen Martinez ‏@CarmenMTZ 15m15 minutes ago Judge wants to know - if you could be on Jefferson but your bill will show you were calling from Windsor

 

[minor4th]

Just started following this. I'm listening to opening statements. (Prosecutor is kind of annoying me with her tone)

p.s. This one kind of seems like a no brainer for guilt

 

[minor4th]

Thanks for the updates Bravo and atl :loveyou:

 

[Grammy717]

Grammy, she is doing that A LOT so far!!! Wierd to me too. I'm just cutting/pasting tweets that have #bobbashara, so thanks for catching the ones that I'm missing! :blowkiss:

atthelake - did you hear the latest question that judge asked of witness Janet Lehmann (sp?) - why she (Janet) chose alt.com -- and the prosecutor actually SPOKE UP and told the judge she (pros.) had her own line of questioning? (or something to that effect) haha! Unbelievable -- I think this judge would rather be an attorney (well, she IS an attorney, but you know what I mean).

 

[Grammy717]

[Guys, I'm new to tweeting as a week or two ago...I think I'm missing a LOT by just doing #bobbashara. Sorry. I need to learn how to do multiple folks I want to follow in one screen... perhaps after court someone can help me lol]

Mandi Wright ‏@DetroitMandi Graphic shows the towers Jane Bashara's cell was utilizing in the evening she was missing.

George Hunter ‏@GeorgeHunter_DN So far in the #bobbashara trial, there have been 16 witnesses. Back on the record in #bobbashara case, with FBI Agent Hess continuing testimony.

ATL - I think you're doing a GREAT job posting the twitter stuff! And photos, too! Very impressive. I'm new to twitter, also, but I've NO idea how to do the stuff you're doing. Thanks so much.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Judge Evans tends to take a very active role in trials. I watched a lot of the D'Andre Lane trial (he was convicted without a body in the child abuse/homicide of his 2-year-old daughter, Bianca), and Judge Evans frequently questioned defendant/witnesses.

 

[Spellbound]

is court on a break? Hard to follow here and at JA.

 

[jacct]

George Hunter‏@GeorgeHunter_DN

Bob's atty, Mike McCarthy cross-examining Janet Leehmann.

Janet said she received a lot of responses to her http://alt.com ad, but reiterated that Bob was the only "nice" person who wrote

McCarthy: "Is it a common thing for the people considered slave to be the property?"

Judge: "What made you decide to go on http://alt.com ?"Janet: "Really? I've been on some of the other ones, and they all sucked."

Janet said the other sites were dangerous. "I had a boyfriend who was a little twisted...and he was fun, and I enjoyed that."

"I was looking for a dominant mover and shaker...I'm a businessperson, and I date businesspersons. I don't date musicians..."

"No offense to musicians."She added: "There are bad people on all those sites, and they troll them."

Judge: "What made you think you'd find a Type A person on (http://alt.com )?"Janet: "Clearly, it was flawed thinking, Your Honor."

When McCarthy asked if Janet liked it a little rough she said: "I make decisions all day long. There's a distinction in roughness."

After Janet met Bob: “I was trying to figure out what the heck I had gotten into, and how to get out of it.”

 

[jacct]

George Hunter‏@GeorgeHunter_DN

After Bob went back home, "I just started blowing off phone calls."

This hasn't come up during this testimony, but in the prelim, she said Bob sneaked up behind her and choked her without her knowledge.

One of the things Bob bought in Oregon was a whip used on cows. McCarthy: "You mentioned that your dad is a rancher...did he have cows?"

Bob also bought some rope. McCarthy: "It's not like you didn't know what he had to take back to your house."

Janet: "I thought I was getting into some light bondage and a little whipping."Said her ex, "Had a little crop he'd spank me with"

"He, being the dominant one, it was up to him to clear it with me what he was doing. Beating me half to death..it was awful."

Janet: "I didn't know what I was getting into."

Janet's voice wavered when recounting how badly Bob beat her. "I'm not crying yet, but this is hard to talk about."

Janet said she and Bob went to dinner, and went to a ski resort when he went to Oregon.

McCarthy: "Would you agree your point of view of Mr. Bashara, and the time you spent with him..is different today than it was..in (2012)."

Janet: "The day that Jane was found murdered, I realized that he was married."

Janet: "I have a career and children and grandchildren. If I was in love with someone, I might move...but."

She says she wasn't ready to pack up and move to Michigan just yet.

"Not until Jane was murdered, I tried to help Rachel get her life together. Rachel and I would IM, and we would just chat about life stuff."

McCarthy: “Isn’t it true that you told (Bob) that your ex-husband was a snake in the grass...

"..and that you hired the Gypsy Jokers to beat him up for $300?”Janet: "It was a joke."

During this testimony, Janet isn't looking at Bob. He's staring right at her from what I can see, sitting behind him slightly to his right.

Before Lisa Lindsey starts redirect, she says there's a matter she wants to deal with outside the presence of the jury, which left.

Lindsey said re: a lot of BDSM stuff: "I didn't go into whether he can perform or not..the defense brought up the rope and all that."

The parties are discussing the breath play - Bob choking Janet. McCarthy says prosecutors want to connect that to the strangulation of Jane.

Judge said she'll allow discussion of breath play, as long as they don't say it's connected to Jane being choked.

So that's why the erotic asphyxiation hasn't yet been brought up. Bob's attorney says it would be prejudicial, since Jane was killed thatway

10-minute recess.

Some of this testimony is so "out there," I have to keep reminding myself that this is a murder trial, and that 2 people lost their mother.

 

[jacct]

George Hunter‏@GeorgeHunter_DN

We're back on the record

McCarthy asking questions "about this injury you received from Mr. Bashara." In Feb. 2012, she talked about injuries...

Janet:"He...with his 12-foot bull rope...it hurt. It left a bruise about this big on my leg, and it was the ugliest thing you've ever seen."

And, Janet added, "That's a no-no."Janet said she had bruises for 3 months. "I downplayed it because I was embarrassed" when talking w/cops

Janet says she spoke to cops in Bend, Oregon, in Feb. 2012.

McCarthy questioning Janet about why she downplayed the injuries Bob gave her to cops. She told them they lasted 3 wks; today, said 3 months

Janet, on why she went along with Bob's pain games. "I didn't want to disappoint him."

Now, breath play is being discussed. Janet said it's "when somebody chokes you." She says Bob was into that.

sent Janet IMs to her about how he engaged in breath play with Rachel. He said, "it makes her woozy and she loves it..."

"...and he puts her to sleep that way."

Bob's IM: "I can choke her just enough to make her woozy. Having my large hand on her neck excites her."

Janet replied: "I'm almost a breath play virgin."Bob: "You will be like a kid in a candy shop."

Janet: "He was standing behind me, and wrapped his hands around my neck, and I saw stars."

"He said, 'you should've told me you were getting bad. I could hurt you.'" Janet said she didn't want any more breath play.

But she said she didn't tell Bob that. "I was trying to make nice, and live through the weekend. It was all very confusing."

Lindsey: "What did you think would happen to you if you didn't play along?"McCarthy: "Objection."Judge: "Sustained. Nice try, though."

McCarthy re-redirect: "You have these sexual episodes with Mr. Bashara..."Janet: "They weren't sexual...they were more power stuff."

McCarthy, on Janet's discssion with cops in Feb. 2012, said she told them that Bob had told her he was going to do breath play.

 

[jacct]

George Hunter‏@GeorgeHunter_DN

She also told police that she didn't think Bob would leave any marks on her.

Janet: "I knew it was going to happen (breath play); I didn't know I was going to pass out...the level."

McCarthy: "He's Master Bob. All these things were anticipated, right?"Janet: "Not exactly."

Judge: "When you mean role-playing (with ex), you mean you were the man and he was the woman, that kind of thing? Janet: "Yes."

But Janet said while she anticipated some light bondage, she wasn't anticipating the severity.

Judge: "You said the dominant has the power. Doesn't the submissive have the power to stop it?"

Judge asked if she had set up a safe word. She said no, and the judge asked why."Because I'm an idiot," Janet said.

 

[jacct]

George Hunter @GeorgeHunter_DN

Janet said Bob had ED, and judge asked what that is."His appendage didn't work."Judge: "His appendage""

Janet: "The chairman of the board didn't show up for work. Sorry, Bob." Bob shuffled some papers.

Janet, when asked by McCarthy why she said to cops she'd had sex: "It wasn't sex. Mr. Bashara had an ED issue that he'd failed to disclose."

..."so he brought with him a couple of strap-ons."

Janet is starting to sob a bit. Judge: "What are the strap ons?"Janet: "He brought things he never used."

Janet is crying....clearly frustrated about having told cops in February 2012 that she had sex with Bob. "He touched me."

McCarthy stipulated that Janet didn't tell cops that Bob hadn't used the strap-on.One juror looks like he's supressing a smile.

Janet Leehmann is done. Lindsey says there are 2 more "quick witnesses"

 

[CarolinaMoon]

Wowzers! Poor Janet never imagined herself in this type of BDSM situation. I'm in awe that she tried to be nice and not get killed over the weekend. I'd have called 911 with the whip lashes, not to mention the strangling.

 

[jacct]

George Hunter @GeorgeHunter_DN

4th witness is Mary Morey, who knew Gentz from the St. Vincent de Paul resale shop, where she volunteered.

Morley hired Gentz to do labor at her resale shop near Eastern Market.

On Jan. 25, Gentz showed Morely between $800-900 cash. This is the day after the murder.

Morley says Gentz told her he was expecting a large sum of money, about $8,000, and wanted to purchase a vehicle.

On Jan 26, Morley saw Gentz hanging out at St. Vincent. “He was anxious; he was pacing.”

Lillian Diallo, Bob's attorney, doing redirect of the St. Vincent volunteer, Morley.

When Diallo asked, Morey said Joe Gentz appeared normal the day after the murder, although he had a large wad of cash.

Morey is finished. Judge: "Next witness. Last witness for the day."

 

[jacct]

George Hunter @GeorgeHunter_DN

The day's 5th and final witness: Laura Calloway, who worked at the St. Vincent de Paul resale shop on Kerchival, in Detroit.

Calloway said she knew "Joe Gentzen."Judge: "Gentzen?!? Just call him 'Joe.'"

Calloway said a man she didn't know asked her if Joe worked there. "He handed me an envelope to give to Joe."

The man, identified as Bob, told her that Joe had done some work for him.

Under cross-exam, Diallo asked if Bob identified himself, which Calloway said he did.

Ms. Calloway is excused. And we're done for the day.

 

[jacct]

George Hunter‏@GeorgeHunter_DN
To recap the day's testimony: Cow whips, erotic choking, strap-ons, ED, and the "chairman of the board not working." Oh, and cell towers