DESPITE LIFE SENTENCE: Brian Walshe faces a new trial, could secure the right to parole!

Brian Walshe (50), who was sentenced at the end of December last year before the Norfolk Superior Court to life imprisonment, without the possibility of parole, for the murder of his wife Ana (39), a Belgrade native, on January 1, 2023, in their family home in the city of Cohasset, in the American state of Massachusetts, faces another proceeding this year—specifically, a review of the decision by which he was convicted of a first-degree crime.

Namely, according to Massachusetts law, all convictions for first-degree murder are automatically reviewed by the Supreme Judicial Court. In this case, his lawyers can challenge the strength of the prosecution’s evidence regarding deliberate premeditation in order to try to secure a reclassification to second-degree murder. This would give him the possibility of eventual release on parole after a certain number of years spent behind bars. However, American legal experts point out that this is unlikely to happen, given the low success rate in overturning such verdicts, especially considering the numerous pieces of evidence, primarily digital, presented at the trial.

The sentence of life imprisonment was handed down to Brian after a 12-member jury reached a unanimous decision that he was guilty of first-degree murder, i.e., murder with premeditation. During the trial, it was established that after killing Ana, he dismembered her body and placed it in bags, which he then threw into several dumpsters. During the trial, recordings were shown in which Brian can be seen purchasing tools and cleaning supplies, as well as a listing of everything he allegedly searched for on the internet, including how to dispose of a human body.

The motive for the crime, according to the prosecution’s claims, was Ana’s romantic relationship with William Fastow from Washington, as well as financial problems in the marriage. Testifying before the court, Fastow said that Ana and he had been in a relationship for several months and that she planned to confess the affair to her husband.

A few days before the start of the trial, Brian admitted that he had lied to the police and that he had dismembered Ana’s lifeless body and thrown it into several dumpsters. He denied killing his wife, claiming that she died suddenly when she went to sleep. His lawyer stated that Brian dismembered the body because he was in a panic, fearing that no one would believe him that he did not kill his wife.

The burden of crime

In addition to the harshest sentence, Judge Diana Freniere also imposed maximum sentences for two other acts committed by Brian Walshe, which, unlike the murder, he admitted to. Thus, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for misleading the police when Ana’s boss reported her missing, and three years for the unlawful removal of a body.

Explaining the verdict, she called Brian’s actions “barbaric” and noted that Ana’s friends and family lost “her warm, powerful, and pleasant spirit.”

“You will live with the burden and guilt of your crimes for the rest of your life,” the judge addressed Brian.