Still Missing MA - Ana Walshe, 39, allegedly left home, may have been dismembered, Cohasset, Jan 2023 *husband indicted* #4

[Megnut]

Oh, not. Ouch.

Defense just tried to introduce a document (as an exhibit only) that the judge hadn't seen.

(About Night Shade Noodle Bar, and the reservation Brian made, for him and Ana)

"Anybody going to show it to me? That would be a good idea."

Burn.

 

[Megnut]

Things change.

How does Brian making a dinner reservation on Dec 30 for Jan 1 undo premeditation?

We don't know intent.

Maybe he thought he could woo her.
Maybe he thought it would look like he wasn't planning to murder her.
Maybe he wasn't planning to murder her when he made the reservation.
Maybe he had committed to murdering her just yet.
Maybe he planned to beg her to stay with him.
Maybe he realized she was moving on.

Maybe his motive is as old as time. If he couldn't have her, no one was going to.

JMO

 

[BUF]

It's entirely possible that Ana told him about her established affair, wanting to be honest with him and wanting to claim her relationship publicly, entering into her new year.

This is what I think happened. I think he confronted her about what the PI found about the affair and then she confirmed it and what her plans were.

 

[Megnut]

The Defense is trying hard to show how all of Brian's actions weren't murdery [my word]... indicating he was thinking of Ana. Wine. Reservations. Cellphone functions. Charity. A new Porsche for Ana.

But it's not working for me.

It's actually providing exactly the backdrop IMO for how we got to here.

He wanted the status quo. He didn't want a divorce. He wanted to charm Ana with shiny things. Nervy, considering the charges against him.

So.... what happens if he finds out she is having an affair and wants to pursue that relationship? He's just gonna say ok? Lose his house arrest when she leaves with the children? Lose her breadwinner income?

Plays right into motive.

The Defense continues to help the Prosecution.

JMO

 

[Megnut]

I'm about 15 minutes behind real time....

Legionnaires Disease? Seriously? Is he going to try to pin her suddenly death on exposure to Legionnaires Disease????

Judge called for the sidebar.

JMO

 

[Megnut]

I don't see how they can present this defense. There's no evidence that Ana Walshe died of sudden unexplained death, maybe just anecdotal instances of other people dying with no identifiable cause.

Unless he puts Brian on the stand (knowing Brian will be lying) to provide witness testimony to Ana's "illness" and presentation at death, I don't see how he make up alternative causes of mystery death.

Long sidebar.

I do not like where this counselor is trying to go.

JMO

 

[Eli9]

LOL
Defense. If you take all the data points and throw them up in the air and they land in a big mess on the floor you have not established context. Correct
Witness Yeah duh

 

[Eli9]

I don't see how they can present this defense. There's no evidence that Ana Walshe died of sudden unexplained death, maybe just anecdotal instances of other people dying with no identifiable cause.

Unless he puts Brian on the stand (knowing Brian will be lying) to provide witness testimony to Ana's "illness" and presentation at death, I don't see how he make up alternative causes of mystery death.

Long sidebar.

I do not like where this counselor is trying to go.

JMO

Sudden death is their only defense that could work because it can exist within the basis of the prosecutions case. She could have died suddenly. He could have panicked, so much so, and because he is a sociopath (which the state never addressed) made a leap not many would.

Can the state ask about other locations that BW may have stashed her body? Can they ask him about his Lies to LE? I'm still unclear if or when the jury will learn about his prior guilty pleas. They have to come in at some point right?

TBF I think BW would be super smooth on the stand. His voice and demeanor seemed calm and unbothered during his interviews. Disjointed yes but heavy on the smooth - like butter. I don't want him up there in his suit feigning innocence.

I still think we are good for a conviction.

 

[Megnut]

What?????? So the Defense keeps trying to neutralize the searches (favorite actresses, country song titles, etc) by "whoever was using the device" but now wants to suggest LE should have searched devices going farther back in time to see whether the "user of the device" did any searches suggesting harm to Ana W.

1. Why would that matter if it wasn't Brian doing the searches? (And who else could it have been? Seriously.)

2. Even if all his searches prior to 12/25 were about long, happy marriages, that doesn't mean he couldn't on Dec. 31st change course sharply and decide to murder his wife.

Brian really left himself without a functional defense.

JMO

 

[Eli9]

I also think the jury will find all of these random searches like Ana Walshe Tishman Spear which happened after a 1 minute phone call between AW and BW while she was driving home for Christmas to be abnormal.

I'm in a happy marriage. I share my location with my husband. We have a similar travel/work situation. I can promise you that we aren't periodically googling each other's or our name in connection with our work place. His searches may lead jurors to conclude BW did know or suspect of the affair because of the nature of his searches. They sound like paranoia to me.

 

[Eli9]

What?????? So the Defense keeps trying to neutralize the searches (favorite actresses, country song titles, etc) by "whoever was using the device" but now wants to suggest LE should have searched devices going farther back in time to see whether the "user of the device" did any searches suggesting harm to Ana W.

1. Why would that matter if it wasn't Brian doing the searches? (And who else could it have been? Seriously.)

2. Even if all his searches prior to 12/25 were about long, happy marriages, that doesn't mean he couldn't on Dec. 31st change course sharply and decide to murder his wife.

Brian really left himself without a functional defense.

JMO

Yeah, they don't like the time frame at all, lol. They already have thousands of data points and they line up just fine.

 

[AnnieAnnieAnnieAnnie]

My friend woke up to her husband dead in bed beside her (in their 40s). She phoned an ambulance, which is the normal thing to do, even though she knew he was dead. The jump between finding someone dead and considering dismembering them is wild. How could you actually do it, even if you panicked? It's an absolute nonsense defence because it is not how not-guilty people react.

 

[BUF]

Do you think his mother was watching the children while Brian was dismembering Ana?

I do.

 

[Megnut]

Sudden death is their only defense that could work because it can exist within the basis of the prosecutions case. She could have died suddenly. He could have panicked, so much so, and because he is a sociopath (which the state never addressed) made a leap not many would.

Can the state ask about other locations that BW may have stashed her body? Can they ask him about his Lies to LE? I'm still unclear if or when the jury will learn about his prior guilty pleas. They have to come in at some point right?

TBF I think BW would be super smooth on the stand. His voice and demeanor seemed calm and unbothered during his interviews. Disjointed yes but heavy on the smooth - like butter. I don't want him up there in his suit feigning innocence.

I still think we are good for a conviction.

I'm curious too, to see how this is handled.

In the MillieT trial, against advice, the defendant took the stand with an entirely fabricated story involving a band of thieves, in sweaters, who showed and forced his actions.

In criminal cases, judges rule whether defendants can present third party defenses -- SODDI -- some other guy did it.

It has to have some basis in evidence for it to be allowed.

The defense here isn't that SODDI but that a disease did. A disease entered the house and killed Ana, dead beyond resuscitation, in the time it took the defendant to wash dishes.

I wonder how much latitude he's allowed. No body to study. No history to present. Just Brian's word? The biggest liar in the room?

Inventing a vague cause of death is such a stretch...

What are the odds? That Ana would die suddenly on NYD of unknown causes, right at the pinnacle of her affair, while home alone (not counting littles) with Brian, at a time when the topic might have imploded?

He might have been smarter to seek a lesser charges and claim crime of passion (which would better fit if he discovered Ana and her paramour in his bed together).

Only Brian knows the details of that night. What conversations they may have had, just exactly when and how she died, what his thought process was, whether she had visible injuries from it, etc, etc.

Without a body, I don't think the Prosecution needs to prove method do long as they prove means. Motive, not required iiuc.

BARD. That she happened to die (of sudden unknown causes) that night and he happened to respond to that by dismembering and disappearing her OR HE facilitated her death?

The Defense is actually highlighting the context for the latter IMO.

Not the strategy they're going for!

JMO

 

[SteveS]

So, his defense is that he found her suddenly dead, didn't bother to call 911 or make any attempt to save her, but instead panicked, which led him to the most logical next step, dismemberment.

I can't wait until the judge allows/introduces the concept of consciousness of guilt.

The Defense, attempting to bend interpretation and declare his subsequent actions as a result of panic, Durban wasn't to be blamed, presumably for something he didn't do...

When actually his panic isn't in question. He was probably panicked, suddenly having a dead wife to deal with, with no plan.

So the question before the jury IMO will be: why was he panicked? Because he felt he'd be blamed. Because he didn't do it. Or because he did.

Question of the hour: does Brian need to take the stand to answer to that panic? Disastrous if he does. But I can see him thinking he can be believable...

He did not roll her up in a rug, bury her wrapped in a blanket in a shallow grave, if we were to grant him any latitude. What would a reasonable person do, who found his spouse suddenly deceased AND felt he'd be blamed... you'd have to suspend reason to grant him even that. Any reasonable person would hope against hope she could be resuscitate, that would be the panic.

Worse than all that, he dismembered her and disposed of her in the trash. The jury gets to weigh that.

What is not being said: it is true that no one knows how Ana died. Could Brian be acquitted because the jury came say for certain he killed her? It's a fair question. But the thing nor being said, if Ana had died of sudden, unexplained death, Brian himself wouldn't have known what caused it (unless he is going to make one up, in the stand. Fell in the shower, hit her head on a lamp, overdosed, etc, etc), why would he OBLITERATE the very evidence that could now exonerate him? Recover her remains, perform a proper autopsy, show the natural cause of death, no trauma, no homicide.

He destroyed her body. He did not want any part of her found. Because he panicked? (Yes, he panicked all right, but not because he found her suddenly dead and feared he'd somehow be blamed -- huh? Who would blame him if she died of a heart attack, of an embolism, of a stroke? He was already afraid he'd be blamed for her death of unexplained sudden death???? Nah. He was panicked because he just killed her. Probably a pretty charged, panicked moment.) IMO he had to cover up, not just her death, but the MANNER of death. I don't know what it was but here's HIS brain leakage -- something he didn't to her made calling 911 not an option, because it would have been obvious she didn't die naturally.

Like broken teeth.

Cover up, consciousness of guilt, hacksaw, murder.

JMO

From what I have seen (it's possible I have missed something), BW has NOT said he dismembered/destroyed her body in any way.

IIUC the content of his guilty plea was only about removing the dead body (as well as lying to LE), so that it's gone from where she died.

The distinction is important in relation to where the def eventually might try to head.

It's always possible he MIGHT eventually admit to doing things to the body. But so far, I haven't read of any such confession.

 

[Cindizzi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1996943768063189322

 

[Cindizzi]

 

[tlcya]

Legionnaires disease did it your honor!

 

[Megnut]

I also think the jury will find all of these random searches like Ana Walshe Tishman Spear which happened after a 1 minute phone call between AW and BW while she was driving home for Christmas to be abnormal.

I'm in a happy marriage. I share my location with my husband. We have a similar travel/work situation. I can promise you that we aren't periodically googling each other's or our name in connection with our work place. His searches may lead jurors to conclude BW did know or suspect of the affair because of the nature of his searches. They sound like paranoia to me.

The Defense belaboring the searches is having the opposite of his intent IMO. As you say, paranoia... or at least suspicion. He was trying to find out if she was having an affair and trying to woo her.

Ana's messages with her paramour give additional context -- she wasn't fully committed, when or how to tell Brian moving to DC with it without Brian -- life is rarely perfectly linear, naturally she thought she had and should have had more time -- a lifetime -- to work things out in her head and in her heart and in her own way.

The truth is that Brian's live was imploding. The fraud charges, the conditions of his house arrest, the state of his marriage.

IMO it detonated on NYE.

JMO

 

[tlcya]

where are they going with this zillow texts testimony?