The sentencing for Brian Walshe, who was found guilty of first-degree murder of his wife Ana Walshe, has been moved from Wednesday to Thursday.
The jury began deliberations around 12:30 PM on Friday, following a series of long closing arguments. The panel heard eight days of testimony — all from the Prosecution, as the defense did not call a single witness.
There was no reaction from Walshe in the courtroom as the verdict was read on Monday. Walshe faces a life prison sentence without the possibility of parole.
Walshe was accused, and now convicted, of murdering his wife Ana Walshe on New Year’s Day 2023. Shortly before the trial began, he admitted to dismembering her body and misleading the police, but fought the charge of first-degree murder in court.
“This is not a question of winning or losing. It is about getting the correct answer, and this was the correct answer,” Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey told reporters outside the court. “We do not view cases as wins or losses. We view them through the prism of justice for someone, so we must not lose sight of that goal.”
Morrissey added that his office received a statement from Ana Walshe’s sister, who told them: “Justice has been served.”
Walshe declined to testify in his own defense, which was a clear departure from the defense’s original plan. His team denied that he killed her. They claimed that Ana suffered a sudden unexplained death while lying in bed after the New Year’s celebration, which caused Walshe to panic.
Since Ana’s body was never found, the prosecution relied heavily on digital evidence to prove the case before the jury. This included a series of gruesome searches on Walshe’s MacBook regarding the best ways to dismember a body in the first days of 2023, after Ana disappeared.
They also possessed location data and surveillance camera footage from stores during that period, which showed that Walshe spent hundreds of dollars in various stores across the region, buying tools and cleaning supplies to dismember his wife’s body.
Some of those items, including a saw and an axe, as well as Ana’s personal belongings and other evidence such as bloody towels and rugs, were found in dumpsters along the North Shore. DNA tests showed strong links to the Walshes on key items.
While the defense admitted to the existence of the gruesome Google searches about body disposal, Walshe’s lawyers and prosecutors clashed over the issue of motive. The prosecution claimed that Walshe knew about his wife’s affair and focused on financial problems they say the couple had — both arguments that the defense tried to challenge.
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Source: NBC Boston, Photo: Greg Derr / The Patriot Ledger via AP