Judge allows prosecutors to call out-of-state witnesses in Brian Walshe case
A Norfolk Superior Court judge ordered several out-of-state witnesses to appear at Brian Walshe ’s October trial at the request of prosecutors, court records show.
Judge Michael Doolin issued five certificates of materiality on Wednesday, essentially a procedural step certifying to a court in another state that the witnesses were necessary to the proceeding, in this case, Walshe’s trial. Prosecutors must get a judge to sign off before ordering a witness from out of state to appear in any case.
Walshe is accused of killing his wife, Ana, then dismembering her in the basement of their Cohasset home. Prosecutors say he did so after learning she was having an affair and while staring down a court-mandated restitution payment in a federal art-fraud case.
The certificates will allow prosecutors to call Jeremy Dozier, a private investigator hired by Walshe’s mother, to investigate whether she was having an affair; two employees from the Washington, D.C. real estate firm where Ana Walshe worked; a keeper of records for the airline JetBlue; and a friend of Ana Walshe’s.
In order to get such a certificate, prosecutors must show the judge that the witness’s testimony was material and relevant to the case.
Police continue looking for missing Cohasset woman Ana Walshe.
In the case of Dozier, prosecutors wrote, he can testify that Brian Walshe’s mother, with her son’s “input and direction,” hired him to “conduct surveillance of the victim for the purpose of proving infidelity.”
Prosecutors intend to call two witnesses from the real estate firm Tishman Speyer: the director of security and the director of human resources.
Hugh Dunleavy, the security director, can tell jurors that he spoke to Brian Walshe about his wife’s whereabouts when she did not show up to work in January 2023, after spending New Year’s Eve with her husband and children in Cohasset. Brian Walshe has claimed his wife left their home early on Jan. 1 for a work emergency, which prosecutors say Dunleavy can testify was not true.
Similarly, Theresa Marchese, the HR director, can testify no work emergency would have prompted Ana Walshe to leave her home on Jan. 1, 2023, prosecutors wrote.
“Furthermore, on January 4, 2023, the defendant spoke with Ms. Marchese about the victim’s whereabouts and she engaged in substantial efforts to search for the victim in Washington, D.C.,” the filing reads.
Another witness, Alyssa Kirby, went out with Ana Walshe in Washington, D.C., in the days before her death. Ana Walshe was “uncharacteristically emotional and extremely upset” that night, prosecutors wrote.
She told Kirby about her husband’s pending sentencing in his federal art fraud case and her desire to relocate the couple’s three children to Washington, D.C.
“Ms. Kirby has relevant information about the victim’s state of mind and the nature of the relationship between the victim and the defendant,” the filing reads.
Finally, regarding the witness from JetBlue, prosecutors say they can testify that Ana Walshe was scheduled to fly from Boston to the nation’s capital on Jan. 3, 2023, but no other time. Brian Walshe told police his wife left to catch a flight around 6 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2023.
“The victim has not been seen since January 1, 2023 with the defendant as the last person to have seen her,” the filing reads.
Prosecutors intend to call each witness during their case-in-chief.
Last week, Walshe’s lawyers asked a different Norfolk Superior Court judge to dismiss the murder indictment against him inasmuch as it charges him with the killing of his wife under a theory of “extreme atrocity and cruelty.”
Judge Diane Freniere has not ruled on that motion, but did deal a blow to Walshe’s defense when she denied a motion to suppress Google searches that represent key evidence for the government.
Those searches include “how long before a body starts to smell,” “how long for someone to be missing to inheritance?” and “dismemberment and best ways to dispose of a body,” according to court papers.
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