Alleged wife killer Brian Walshe wants witnesses at his upcoming Massachusetts murder trial to be barred from telling jurors his missing wife Ana was a loving mother and dedicated employee.
Lawyers for the real estate exec, 50, made the request during a final hearing in Norfolk County Superior Court Monday before jury selection was expected to get underway — possibly later in the day.
Walshe, of Cohasset — about 20 miles south of Boston on the Massachusetts Bay, is slated to go on trial on Dec. 1, on charges of first-degree murder and misleading and hiding the body of his 39-year-old spouse, who was the mother of his three children.
He is accused of murdering Ana around New Year’s Day 2023 and then dismembering her body and disposing of her remains — which have never been found.
Walshe’s lawyer, Kelli Porges, Monday morning raised concerns to Judge Diane Freniere that it would be “inflammatory and prejudicial and invoke sympathy of the jury to hear that [Ana] was a great mother and a great employee.”
Porges was also worried that prosecutors would raise testimony that Ana “would never abandon her children.” She was last seen Jan. 1, 2023.
The defense attorney argued this type of testimony would not only be inflammatory but is also irrelevant to the allegations against Walshe.
Freniere told Porges to “make a real time objection” during the trial but warned Porges, “I will probably allow observations … general observations as to the victim’s interactions with her children.”
Prosecutors said they plan to call Ana’s former boss to testify about what she was like as a worker and describe how she was around her kids.
After Ana’s disappearance, Walse was allegedly captured on surveillance video buying an array of cleaning products and tools from Home Depot, including mops, brushes, splash guard goggles, and a utility knife — which prosecutors claim he used to dispose of his wife’s body.
And investigators allegedly discovered a hacksaw with a piece of bone on it in a dumpster by Walshe’s mother’s house.
They also claim he used his son’s iPad to lookup on Google how to get rid of a body.
Prior to Ana’s disappearance, prosecutors claim Walshe hired a private investigator to find out whether she was cheating on him. Their marriage had been on the rocks after Walshe was arrested and placed on house arrest for allegedly selling phony Andy Warhol artworks.
The trial had been in limbo last month when Walshe was institutionalized to be evaluated for mental fitness to stand trial after he was stabbed in jail.
Freniere Friday ruled Walshe was fit for trial after the Bridgewater State Hospital where he’d been housed for 20 days cleared him, finding he was mentally sane.
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