Brian Walshe prosecutors say they have "binders" of searches made before wife's alleged murder
Cohasset, Massachusetts man Brian Walshe was in court for the final time Monday before jury selection is set to begin on Tuesday in his murder trial. Walshe is accused of killing his wife Ana and dismembering her body in January 2023.
Monday marked the final pretrial hearing in the case. Opening statements could take place on December 1 once a jury is sworn in. The trial is expected to last three to four weeks.
Walshe will stand trial inside Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham. He has pleaded not guilty to murder, misleading a police investigation and improper conveyance of a human body.
When Monday's hearing got underway, Judge Diane Freniere allowed Walshe to remove handcuffs so he can participate fully. The judge said the same will be allowed during the trial.
"Binders" of Google searches
During Monday's hearing, prosecutors said they have "binders" full of electronic materials from a MacBook Pro in the Walshe home that they plan to present to jurors as evidence.
The judge asked prosecutors if the internet history and search information is different from previous searches, which were allegedly done on the iPad belonging to Walshe's son.
Assistant District Attorney Greg Connor said the report on the MacBook is 1,000 pages long. Connor said that much of the material is new.
Walshe allegedly made previously known violent Google searches. In one search, prosecutors said he searched "10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to." He also allegedly searched things such as "How long before a body starts to smell?" and "Can you be charged with murder without a body?"
The judge asked about one search in particular from the new batch of searches from the MacBook. Walshe searched something that in included the words "cheating wife" on December 27, days before his wife disappeared. The search happened about eight hours before prosecutors said Walshe made searches about divorce.
Defense attorneys objected to that search being included, saying it was a pornographic search and not related to the case.
"It's inflammatory but it's the second part of that search, 'Cheating wife.' So that goes to the issue we just talked about before about his state of knowledge and what reasonable inferences can be drawn from that search being done on the 27th," Freniere said. "That is an argument with regard to his state of knowledge on the 27th as to whether or not his wife was having an affair, right?"
The judge and attorneys also discussed how the searches would be presented to the jury.
Defense object to descriptions of Ana Walshe
Defense attorney Kelli Porges said she plans to object during the trial to statements prosecution witnesses will give that attempt to refer to Ana Walshe a "great mother" and "great employee."
Judge Freniere said she would not make a firm ruling on Monday.
"I will tell you that generally, I probably will allow observations of her. Not to an excessive amount, whatever that in my mind becomes excessive. But general observations as to the victim's interactions with her children is permissible," Freniere said.
Porges said the defense will raise objections when the time comes during trial.
"How are observations of her with her children relevant, which I suspect may or may not be relevant once we start? And it can't just be a limited number of people. So one person from her work saying she had a good work ethic? The case law says you cannot do that," the defense attorney said. "It has to be the general reputation of the community. And so I guess we will just raise the objections at the time, I just wanted to put the court on notice that any of this testimony could be inflammatory and prejudicial and invoke sympathy of the jury to hear that she was a great mother and a great employee."
Brian Walshe trial
Freniere had ordered Walshe be hospitalized at Bridgewater State hospital last month to determine his competency. On Friday, Freniere said that after 40 days in the hospital, a doctor concluded that Walshe is competent to stand trial.
The defense had also sought to either move the trial outside of Norfolk County or to bring jurors in from outside the area. Freniere denied both motions.
According to his attorneys, Walshe has suffered from fear and anxiety since he was stabbed in jail in September.
Ana Walshe death
Ana Walshe's body has never been found. The 39-year-old was last seen early Jan. 1, 2023 following a New Year's Eve dinner hosted at the couple's home.
Though Walshe told police his wife left early that morning to get a ride to the airport and fly to Washington, D.C. for work, investigators said there is no evidence she was ever picked up. Police also said there is no record she ever boarded a plane.
A bloody knife that was also damaged was found by investigators inside the basement of the Walshe home.
WBZ-TV legal analyst Jennifer Roman said a lack of a body is a challenge for the prosecution.
"There's a lot of evidence that we see that points to Brian Walshe, but without the body, it's harder for the prosecution to close that loop, to be able to really say to the jury, 'This is what happened beyond a reasonable doubt,'" Roman said.
Roman said prosecutors will have to methodically lay out other evidence to make their case. One of Ana's friends is expected to testify that she planned to take the kids to Washington, D.C.
"I think the defense is going to chip away at motive. And then they're going to keep saying, 'Well, where's the body?'" she said.
Walshe's mother Diana was added to the witness list on Monday morning after allegedly hiring a private investigator to catch her son's wife in an affair. She was asked to leave the courtroom as the judge and attorneys debated her potential testimony.
"The only witnesses that can testify as to whether or not Brian Walshe knew about this private investigator are Brian Walshe and his mother," Roman said. "And the mother is not testifying at trial, that evidence will never come in."
Michael Proctor's involvement
Disgraced former Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was also an investigator in Walshe's case. As a result, it is expected that defense attorneys in Walshe's case will attempt to use that information during the upcoming trial.
"We won't go into anything about Proctor except the fact that once Proctor's integrity was impeached, the Commonwealth moved away from him," defense attorney Larry Tipton said on Monday.
Roman said she expects the defense to seize on Proctor's involvement.
"They're going to try to shift the attention away from Brian Walshe and focus it on every other possibility. And they're going to be like, 'Did the police really do their job? Did they really chase these leads down?' Which is part of, not the only, but part of the fall for Michael Proctor," Roman said.
Proctor is on the defense witness list, which includes eight people total. The prosecution's list of potential witnesses includes nearly 100 people.