Brian Walshe, the Massachusetts man accused of killing his wife Ana and dismembering her body in 2023, returned to court for a hearing on Monday where the tentative date for the trial was set.
Walshe entered in a suit, in handcuffs, for the motion hearing in Norfolk Superior Court, where Judge Diane Freniere, newly assigned to oversee the proceedings, offered some introductory remarks about her approach to the case — she said she sees it going to trial in 2025, not 2026, with the process moving along more efficiently than it had.
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After discussion, jury selection was scheduled to being Oct. 20. The trial is expected to take three or four weeks.
Walshe was last in court back in early October, where his lawyers raised questions about the integrity of Norfolk County's murder investigations. His defense team filed a motion requesting a large amount of documents pertaining to Norfolk County law enforcement in response to the scandals that have rocked the county recently: the Karen Read murder trial and the alleged killing of Sandra Birchmore by a Stoughton detective.
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The October hearing was continued until this week to give the parties time to review a large amount of discovery, including cellphone data from Trooper Michael Proctor, who was the lead investigator in both the Read and Walshe cases and has since been suspended without pay after he admitted to unprofessional behavior that included disparaging comments about Read and her medical condition.
Much of Monday's hearing dealt with establishing whether the Walshe investigation has no professional integrity issues. A prosecutor committed to asking investigators if they know of any records like emails or text messages from investigators that would indicate a bias, as well as if any information was lost or destroyed.
Prosecutors have also said they are still waiting to receive all of the DNA evidence in the case, which was originally expected earlier this year. Freniere asked about the DNA testing Monday, an the lawyers told her that the hold-up is over who will pay for testing of key samples of evidence through a private lab. The evidence would be destroyed by the testing, as well.
That's expected to be discussed at a subsequent hearing in January.
Want updates on the Walshe murder case as they come in, plus in-depth background and analysis? Listen to "The Searches for Ana Walshe" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts.
Ana Walshe was reported missing in January of 2023, and a few weeks later, her husband Brian Walshe was arrested on charges including murder, misleading an investigation and improperly moving a human body. He is now being held without bail and a trial date has not yet been set.
The Walshe case is one of the most high-profile murder cases in the area in recent years. Ana Walshe was first reported missing just a few days into 2023, and as the search for her grew more desperate, her husband Brian began facing charges. He was first charged with misleading police, and eventually murder. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The 39-year-old mom of three's body was never recovered. Prosecutors alleged that Brian killed her in their Cohasset home early New Year's Day, dismembered her body and discarded it into the trash.
Brian allegedly made a series of Google searches on their son's iPad that centered around discarding of a body.
Prosecutors will likely need to lean on digital evidence — including DNA lab testing and internet searches — to try and secure a conviction from a jury, since Ana's body was never found, criminal justice experts have told NBC10 Boston.
During the search for Ana, law enforcement eventually found in a dumpster near Brian's mother's house pieces of clothes and jewelry that Brian Walshe said she was wearing when she left their house early New Year's Day, along with a hacksaw that had a bone fragment in, prosecutors have said.
Cannone was the judge presiding over the Walshe case as well as the Read case until last month, when Freniere was given the matter.
