Judge ousts lawyers for Bashara in wife's death

DETROIT (AP) -- A judge has fired the lawyers defending a man from an affluent Detroit suburb accused of arranging the strangulation of his wife. Robert Bashara is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of 56-year-old Jane Bashara. Authorities say she was beaten and strangled at the couple's Grosse Pointe Park home in January 2012 and her body left in a car in a Detroit alley. On Tuesday, Wayne County Circuit Judge Vonda Evans removed Bashara's lawyers and appointed David Cripps and Gabi Silver as replacements. Evans says she's naming a third defense lawyer at Bashara's next hearing March 11. The 56-year-old Bashara repeatedly has denied any role in his wife's slaying. Prosecutors say he coerced handyman Joe Gentz to kill her so he could live a new life with another woman. Published: Thu, Feb 20, 2014