Hundreds of pages of notes and more than 2,500 images from the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office are now in possession of defense attorneys for Brian Walshe.
His wife, Ana Walshe, was reported missing in January of 2023. Prosecutors say Brian killed Ana in their home in Cohasset, Massachusetts, on New Year's Day, dismembering her body and discarding her remains in the trash. Her body was never recovered.
Jury selection in Walshe's trial is set to begin in October.
According to new court filings, many of the records given to the defense team Tuesday involve suspended Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, who is set to face a trial board next week due to misconduct allegations stemming from the Karen Read murder case.
Proctor was the lead investigator in both cases. His testimony at Read's first trial — which ended with a hung jury — raised serious questions about police integrity.
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"It's hard to disagree that Proctor didn't conduct himself professionally, at least in Karen Read's case, and if it spilled over into this case, there would be tragic consequences for the commonwealth," explained NBC10 Boston legal analyst Michael Coyne. "If he was doing the same type of thing that he was doing during the last one he was handling, Karen Read, that's going to be problematic for the government."
The list of records given to Walshe's attorney's include notes taken by Proctor from when he was a lead investigator on the Cohasset case.
One of the files was titled, "Ana Walshe's Personal Belongings."
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What is not listed, however, may be considered equally as important, according to Coyne.
"Oftentimes, I tell my students it's not the first box of documents that you get in a case, it's the last box," he explained. "So yes, this is an attempt by the government to slow the defense's continued requests for those text messages. None of them appear on the list."
Proctor's disturbing text messages were a damning part of the Read case, as well.
During the investigation into the death of Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe — Read's boyfriend — Proctor sent a series of texts to colleagues, supervisors, friends and family.
He called Read a "whack job c***," making disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after going through her phone that he had found "no nudes so far."
In a text to his sister, Courtney Proctor, he said of Read, "Hopefully she kills herself."
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When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O'Keefe was found could "receive some s***," Proctor replied, "Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too."
The fallout from Proctor's testimony was anticipated to be wide-ranging, making a possible impact on several other cases, including Walshe's.
The Norfolk County District Attorney's Office sent a Brady letter to defense attorneys in other cases, disclosing that Proctor, who was involved in each investigation, has been subject to cross-examination regarding issues like conflict of interest and bias. It noted that he was suspended without pay amid an investigation.
According to court filings in the Walshe case, the commonwealth wishes to withhold Proctor's texts and has argued the district attorney's office is still reviewing the suspended trooper's work phone and iCloud data. Prosecutors added that they've hired an attorney to conduct an independent review.
"That's where the smoking guns are found now," said Coyne. "It's not the literal gun anymore. It's what's contained in your cellphone that you carry around — you're not using the phone as carefully as you should."
He weighed in on the impact that evidence could have on Walshe's fate.
"As long as they can create a reasonable doubt, potentially, he escapes incarceration," Coyne said.
