(FOX 2) - Bob Bashara, the Grosse Pointe Park man notoriously convicted in the murder of his wife, has died in prison at the age of 62, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Bashara was found guilty of several charges, including first-degree murder, in the death of his wife, Jane, back in 2012. Bashara had long maintained he had nothing to do with her death.
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Former Bob Bashara defense attorney says he was tortured
Bob Bashara, the Grosse Pointe Park man notoriously convicted in the murder of his wife, has died in prison at the age of 62, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
According to the MDOC, Bashara was housed at the prison in Whitmore Lake, the Woodland Center Correctional Facility. He died at an Ann Arbor area hospital on Monday.
Chris Gautz from the MDOC, said that he could not officially say if Bashara died from COVID-19 due to HIPPA law, but added that there were no confirmed cases at the prison he had been lodged at.
"To know that he is dead now. All I can say is may his soul rest in peace. I really hope he finds some kind of peace and comfort in the afterlife," said Lillian Diallo, Bashara's defense attorney. "I know he was tortured those last few years."
Diallo said that she found out a couple months ago that Bashara had taken ill.
Bob Bashara, asked the court to testify on his behalf.
After the trial, Diallo says Bashara would continue to write her letters from prison proclaiming his innocence.
"I believe in his mind he thought he had nothing to do with Jane Bashara," Diallo said.
Bashara's trial in 2014 garnered national media attention over the grisly and salacious details. Bashara, known as "Master Bob," was convicted of arranging his wife’s killing so he could devote more time to cavorting with other women who shared his love for sexual bondage and domination.
“You lived in two worlds,” Wayne County Judge Vonda Evans told Bob Bashara at his sentencing. “Light - your family, community and friends. And darkness where your lies were your truth and your truth was a lie. ... I have no mercy for you.”
Evans posted a video of Bashara's sentencing on Facebook and wrote, "Jane Bashara now your soul can finally Rest In Peace and your Children can LIVE in Peace!"
It initially appeared that Jane, a marketing executive, had been killed at random. But the investigation soon revealed her death was not by chance. Prosecutors said Bob Bashara coerced a handyman with a low IQ to strangle his wife in the family garage and to abandon the body in Detroit.
It turned out that Bashara was living a double life - a Rotary president and son of a late judge who dabbled in bondage and domination in a sex dungeon under a bar called the Hard Luck Lounge.
"I know he was tortured," Diallo said. "I wish him no ill will. He might have done some things that were unacceptable by society but he was still a human being. And I have humanity and I just feel for his family that is left behind."
Jurors heard from Bashara’s mistress as well as other women from Oregon and Chicago.
Jane Bashara
“Master Bob - master of manipulation,” the judge told Bashara in a mocking tone.
Bashara, however, was defiant at the hearing, declaring, “I loved my Jane dearly.”
Diallo said she still does not agree with the trial's verdict saying she felt the jury heard too much from the media and that she could not shield them from it. Overall, Diallo said that she believes she is a better attorney as a result of that trial.
He was sentenced to life in prison in January 2015 even though he was already in prison at the time. He pleaded guilty to trying to have Joe Gentz, the handyman who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with Jane's death, killed in jail in 2012.
Most recently in 2018, the Michigan Supreme Court turned away his appeal. Last year it was also reported he was turning to the federal courts for an appeal.
-The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bob Bashara, in his most recent MDOC ID photo.