TRANSCRIPTION OF ARRAIGNMENT
9TH JANUARY.
Court Clerk - Mr. Brian Walshe, complaint 210136 out of Cohasset. You're charged with intimidation of a witness on the 8th. January, 2023. A not guilty plea will be entered.
Judge - Do you understand that charge Mr. Walshe?.
Walshe - Yes.
Judge - I'll hear from the Commonwealth please.
DA - Yes, good morning your honor, Lynn Beland for the Commonwealth. Your honor, the charge before the court right now - The defendant is charged under the intimidation, that being, misleading police in the course of an investigation. The investigation was into the missing person of Ana Walshe. Ana is the wife of this defendant, she is 37 yrs. old. They have three children, 2, 4 and 6.
Ana Walshe was last seen on New Year's Day between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m., in the morning. The defendant indicated that she left the house to go... she works in Washington, DC. The defendant indicated, in a subsequent interview, that she left the house around 6:00 a.m., taking an uber, a lift, to go to the airport where she was going to go to work in DC. That was the last time she was seen.
In the course of the investigation, police were notified, around January 4th., by her employees in Washington DC, that she had not shown up for work on January 4th. That was the first time that it was notified that she was missing, up until this point, the defendant had not notified anyone that she was missing. The investigation has determined that she actually had a plane ticket for January 3rd., which she did not use and did not show up at the airport, nor her DC job or her apartment in DC.
It was indicated that the defendant... police checked, during the course of this investigation, there was not an Uber or any kind of lift that had picked her up on January 1st. In fact, in the course of the investigation, it was determined that her cell phone pinged in the area of the house, which is located on Chief Justice, Cushing Way, that her phone pinged on the 1st. and the 2nd., which is after the defendant had said she had left.
Additionally, the defendant right now, who is on house arrest, pending sentencing in federal court. Part of that probation and condition, he was to report his whereabouts if he was to leave the house. He indicated, as part of the investigation when police spoke with him that on January 1st., he went to his mother's house. However, it took him a lot longer because he got lost going to his mother's house in Swampscott. He also indicated and stated to the police that he went to Whole Foods and CVS. Police subsequently did surveillance and checked, there was no surveillance or indication that he went to Whole Foods, nor CVS. He indicated he purchased some items. There's no receipts for him having purchased that. He then returned home. Surveillance was checked by several police during this timeframe. These statements caused a lot of delay as part of the investigation as police now were focusing on the North Shore.
He further indicated that on January 2nd., as he was supposed to report in, that the only time he left is that he went to take his son for some ice cream. Surveillance checked during the investigation indicated that the defendant, in fact, on January 2nd., sometime after 4 o'clock, went to the Home Depot, which is in Rockland. He's on surveillance, at that time, purchasing about $450 worth of cleaning supplies that would include: mops, bucket, tarps, TVX, drop cloths, as well as various kinds of tape. He's on surveillance, at that time, on January 2nd., even though he said he never left the house.
Police obtained a search warrant and actually searched the house with Crime Scene Services. During that time they found blood in the basement. Blood was found in the basement area as well as a knife, which also contained some blood.
Judge - Could you repeat that last sentence?.
DA - Yes, in the basement, Crime Scene Services recovered and found blood in the basement area, in a section of the basement. There was also a knife that was found. On the knife there was also blood and part of the knife was damaged.
Your honor, these various statements caused a delay in the investigation, to the point that during the timeframe when he didn't report his wife and gave various statements that allowed him time to - either clean up evidence or dispose of evidence and causing a delay. As of this time, Ana Walshe has not been found. So because of that the Commonwealth is asking $500,000 cash bail. At this time, these are the charges.
Defense - Good morning your honor. Mr. Walshe's wife has been missing since January 1st. and it is true that her employer contacted the police on January 4th. However, that was as a result of Mr. Walshe, Brian Walshe, contacting the employer to say 'I haven't heard from my wife'. The employer suggested that their security team, who is former law enforcement officer, contact both the Cohasset Police and the DC Metro Police, which he did.
Mr. Walshe has given several interviews. We have consented to searches of his home. We have consented to searches of his property. We have consented to searches of his cell phone, I negotiated with the 1st Assistant DA, on the terms of that, to protect attorney client. He has been Incredibly cooperative. The charges are not anything relating... he's not charged with murder, he's charged with misleading investigators by not saying, as I understand it, he went to Home Depot in Rockland. He did say he went to Press in Norwell and, as your honor knows, Rockland Home Depot is right next to Norwell. If, in fact, he was there, it was in the town next to him. With respect to the other alleged omission, is that he was in Brockton and Abington. They don't have him stopping anywhere in those areas, as far as the police report says. He did say that he took his son out twice on the 2nd.
He is on home confinement, he has a bracelet on him. A violation has been noticed of him, so if he leaves here there's a federal detainer, he will be taken to federal court and I would suggest that on the bail violations in federal court, the appropriate place to decide those conditions of release is in the federal court.
I would ask for low bail or no bail and to let the federal courts decide this. He's not going anywhere. He hasn't gone anywhere since January 1st. He's been in the house, that's true. He's been in the house with police almost 12 hrs. a day. I've been at the house with him, with police, for at least 8 hrs. a day. Well, not yesterday, but yesterday the police were at his house and he was at my home, but Friday and Saturday I was at his house for at least 8 hrs. with police officers present. So it's not that he's been there changing evidence or, somehow, impeding the investigation. The charges are - he neglected to mention that he went to Abington and Brockton, and then he neglected to mention that he was at a Home Depot. I suggest on those charges, for a regular person, as everybody has to be treated, that that would be a no bail situation. With respect to violation of conditions of his federal bail, that is most appropriately dealt with in the federal court. Thank you very much your honor.
Judge - Bail is set at $500,000 cash.
(
Next conference set for Thurs. 9th. February).
