PLYMOUTH, MASS. (WHDH) - The former Cohasset man charged with murdering his wife Ana and dismembering her body in January 2023 was back in court Thursday as his lawyers worked in hopes of getting his case dismissed.
Grand jurors heard evidence in March of that year and indicted Walshe, but his top lawyer said the state failed to show the grand jury enough evidence to show Walshe committed first degree murder.
“If they develop evidence post-grand jury, of extreme atrocity and cruelty, they can’t just decide, well now we have evidence of it, we can try on that,” attorney Larry Tipton said. “They have to go to the grand jury and get an indictment.”
Ana Walshe’s body was never found; investigators said her husband disposed of her body parts. Tipton also argued the work of the Norfolk District Attorney’s office didn’t show evidence of another legal element of first degree murder: premeditation.
“There has to be cool reflection,” he said. “There has to be thought, and there has to be action. They have no evidence of that.”
Prosecutors said Walshe’s Google searches prior to Ana Walshe’s death, coupled with his financial problems and awareness Ana had begun an affair in Washington, D.C. were all things presented to the grand jury.
“The court should not eliminate any theory of first degree murder because here the grand jury did have probable cause to find that the defendant committed a premeditated murder with intent to kill,” Assistant District Attorney Anne Yas said.
Though Walshe’s attorney claimed the defendant did not know his wife was having an affair before she disappeared, the judge pushed back on that saying the grand jury heard evidence Ana’s mother had told Walshe she was going to leave him for another man and take the kids, and she said the grand jury saw evidence Walshe searched for information about the lover online, including six Google searches of his name on Christmas Day 2022.
The judge will also study case law before issuing a ruling on the motion to dismiss, but she reminded the lawyers the trial is coming this fall.
“Tick tock,” Judge DIane Freniere said. “It’s coming.”
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