Mich. husband charged in executive wife's death

DETROIT –  A man accused of forcing a handyman to strangle his wife was charged with first-degree murder Wednesday, 15 months after the discovery of her body in a Detroit alley stirred fear that she was a victim of a random abduction from a comfortable suburb.

The charges against Robert Bashara were not unexpected. Nonetheless, it was another extraordinary turn in the death of Jane Bashara, a 56-year-old marketing executive from Grosse Pointe Park.

"I don't know if I'd use the word strange," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said when asked to sum up the investigation. "I would use the word different, and certainly a case that has a lot of tentacles."

The handyman, Joseph Gentz, is serving a 17-year prison sentence after admitting he killed Jane Bashara. But he insists he acted on the threats and orders of her husband.

Bashara, 55, was charged with murder, conspiracy, solicitation to commit murder and other crimes. He faces life in prison without parole if convicted.

Worthy declined to discuss a motive or many other details but said Gentz would be a "strong and credible witness."

"He's not the only witness. We have many, many others. I would never call one person a star witness. I never do that," she said.

The prosecutor said Bashara encouraged witnesses to lie or call in false tips during the investigation and tried to get a witness to leave Michigan and avoid police.

Bashara won't be hard to find: He's already in custody, 260 miles away, serving a minimum prison sentence of 6 ½ years for trying to have Gentz killed in the county jail last year. He'll likely appear in court next week on the new charges.

"Mr. Bashara has steadfastly maintained he had no role in his wife's death and he continues to maintain he had no role in his wife's death," defense attorney Mark Kriger said.

Despite those denials, Bashara quickly was identified by police as a person of interest in January 2012. He attended a candlelight vigil in honor of Jane Bashara and told reporters the killing was an "unconceivable tragedy."

The body was found in her Mercedes-Benz in a Detroit neighborhood, miles from their home. The Basharas lived in a suburb on the city's eastern edge, and the death immediately caused speculation that she was plucked by violent strangers.

"This case is one we do not often experience in Grosse Pointe Park," Public Safety Director David Hiller said Wednesday.

In December, Gentz pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and agreed to cooperate with authorities.

"Bob Bashara offered me money to kill his wife," he told a judge. "He threatened he would kill me if I didn't kill his wife."

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Follow Ed White at www.twitter.com/edwhiteap

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Giffords' husband pulls dog off sea lion in Calif.

LOS ANGELES –  The daughter of former astronaut Mark Kelly was walking her dog Shiner on Goff Island Beach when the dog bolted, ripping the leash from her hand and fatally attacking a beached baby sea lion.

Video showed the owner and two other women struggling several minutes in vain to pull the dog off the sea lion. As his daughter screamed and cried, Kelly arrived and grabbed the collar. He shook the dog's head until it released the bloodied mammal, which later died.

Kelly is married to former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was wounded in a shooting in Tucson, Ariz., in 2011. His daughters, Claudia and Claire, are from a previous marriage.

Laguna Beach police said they did not plan to press charges because it did not appear the owner was at fault in the attack Saturday, Capt. Jason Kravetz said Tuesday. The bulldog mix was leashed and legally on the beach below the exclusive Montage Resort.

Kravetz said, however, that authorities could not close the case until a necropsy is performed and investigators have checked with animal control in the dog's hometown to see if it has a history of attacks. If there is a history of aggression, authorities could become involved.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also does not expect to take legal action, spokesman Jim Milbury said.

"We will have to wait for all the facts to come in, but it appears to be an unfortunate accident," he said.

Federal law protects marine animals. The state has no jurisdiction, a spokeswoman said.

The Pacific Marine Mammal Center will determine the sea lion's cause of death. Officers had removed the same sea lion from a storm drain earlier in the day, Kravetz said. Calls to the mammal center were not immediately returned.

"This is a regrettable and traumatic incident for the animals and the people involved," said Madeline Bernstein, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles. "Perhaps this will lead to more research and recommendations for peaceful coexistence between domestic animals and local wildlife."

Chasing, hunting or attacking animals like cats and squirrels comes naturally to some dogs, PETA said in a statement. In this case it was a vulnerable sea lion.

If the dog has not shown any other signs of aggression, the family should take new precautions and do all they can to make sure no future incidents occur. "But they should not punish the dog," the statement said.

Giffords was not present during the attack, according to a spokeswoman for the gun control advocacy group the couple recently started.

"Mark was alerted to the situation and came to the beach himself," said Jen Bluestein of Americans for Responsible Solutions.

Gun advocates seized on the incident to criticize Kelly, who has called for background checks for gun buyers.

Several people suggested on his Facebook page Tuesday that background checks might also be considered for dogs whose owners can't control them or those that are a threat to the public.

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