Brian Walshe’s defense seeks files from Karen Read, Sandra Birchmore cases

By David Bienick and Veronica Haynes

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    COHASSET, Massachusetts (WCVB) — Brian Walshe’s defense team is questioning the impartiality of the investigation that led to him being accused of killing and dismembering his wife, Ana Walshe, and is asking for documents from two other high-profile Massachusetts murder cases.

Brian Walshe, 48, was arrested on Jan. 18, 2023, and was indicted by a grand jury on charges including murder, misleading a police investigation/obstruction of justice and improper conveyance of a human body. He is being held without bail.

Last month, prosecutors preparing for the murder trial of Brian Walshe informed the court that they do not plan to call disgraced Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor as a witness. Proctor was the lead investigator on Brian Walshe’s case and also led the investigation of Karen Read.

Proctor was suspended by the department in the wake of embarrassing testimony during Read’s high-profile mistrial. He was formerly an investigator assigned to the Norfolk County district attorney’s office.

The defense is demanding that prosecutors turn over all records related to Proctor, including his cellphone data, internet account and more than 3,000 pages from any ongoing federal investigation.

Brian Walshe’s team asked the prosecution to share all documents related to Proctor’s work on Brian Walshe’s case and Read’s case, as well as the investigation into the death of Sandra Birchmore. Documents pertaining to Proctor’s job performance were also requested.

Brian Walshe’s defense said Proctor’s text messages about Read reveal “bias” and that he might similarly have been biased against Brian Walshe. Brian Walshe’s lawyers say they have found no evidence of police or prosecutor misconduct so far in his case, but want the documents to check for themselves.

“And I was going to explain why we filed such a detailed memorandum of law. But I don’t think I need to waste the court’s time with that,” Brian Walshe’s attorney, Larry Tipton, said Wednesday.

The Norfolk County district attorney’s office said it would share anything relevant to Brian Walshe’s case but not others, as that may contain sensitive information about other cases.

In the brief hearing Wednesday, Brian Walshe’s attorney said he’s received some of what he requested from prosecutors and expects to receive more.

Both sides agreed to return to court on Dec. 2 after the defense had time to go through the documents provided by the prosecution.

The judge overseeing Brian Walshe’s case in Norfolk County Superior Court is also managing Read’s case.

Read, 44, of Mansfield, is accused of hitting her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, with her SUV outside a Canton home on Jan. 29, 2022, and leaving him to die in a snowstorm following a night of drinking at two bars. Her first trial on three charges began in April and ended in a mistrial on July 1.

During her trial, Proctor was questioned about messages he shared with a group of friends. After reading one of the messages, in which he called Read a “whack job” and an expletive, he apologized to the jury for his “unprofessional” comments.

Karen Read prosecution argues against releasing all of Trooper Proctor’s phone data to defense

The Norfolk County district attorney’s office informed the court in September that the Massachusetts State Police had provided copies of Proctor’s phone and work cloud data to the team working on the Read case. In a footnote within that filing, the prosecution suggests the data could include criminal offender records, information about confidential informants, content about ongoing investigations and private data from grand jury proceedings.

The district attorney’s office said it does not intend to call Proctor to testify in the Brian Walshe case. It said that Cohasset Police Department Sgt. Harrison Schmidt was assigned an identical role and “dozens” of other officers from both departments were also a part of the investigation.

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