DEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - A jury has been seated for the murder trial of Brian Walshe, the Cohasset man charged with killing his wife in January 2023.
Sixteen people, nine women and seven men, were chosen after three days of questioning. All 16 will report next month, but 12 will deliberate the case and four will act as alternates who could jump in, in case of an emergency.
“December is flu season, one gets the flu and spreads it,” 7NEWS Legal Analyst Tom Hoopes said. “She doesn’t want to have a problem where somebody is talking to someone they shouldn’t have been talking to, and all of a sudden you go below the mandatory 12 jurors.”
The judge instructed all jurors to stay off of social media and to not watch any news until the case is over.
“She does not want the water tainted,” Hoopes said. “There’s 200 different ways to hear about something that they weren’t supposed to hear about and all that does is head to trouble and a reversal later. So she’s just trying to keep the trial clean.”
Brian Walshe is accused of killing his wife Ana at their Cohasset home just after New Years in 2023. Her body was never found.
Surveillance video captured Walshe purchasing cleaning products in the days following her disappearance.
Investigators believe Walshe disposed of his wife’s remains in dumpsters across the region and that they were incinerated before they could be recovered.
Earlier this week, Walshe changed his plea to guilty on two lesser charges but maintained he was not guilty of murder.
Opening statements are expected to begin on December 1.
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