
After prosecutors called 47 witnesses, Brian Walshe did not testify in his own defense, and his team declined to call a single witness to the stand.
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Narrator/Reporter
Tonight, shocking moments at the start of court.
Courtroom Insider (Sue O'Connell)
And what is your decision?
Narrator/Reporter
I will not testify. Brian Walsh chooses not to testify in his own defense. Moments later, his attorneys make a surprise announcement of their own.
Judge
Does the defense wish to call any witnesses in this case?
Courtroom Insider (Sue O'Connell)
We do not.
Narrator/Reporter
Defense rest after the prosecution called 47 witnesses, the defense responds by not calling a single witness. But why? Our legal expert explains why that decision was made. And we dig deeper into Brian Walsh's past. And the day he got that check at the closing was the last time his father ever spoke to him. He just disappeared off the face of the earth. The serious allegations he once faced from his own family involving money. Commonwealth Confidential the Brian Walsh murder trial starts right now.
Anchor/Host (J.C. Monahan)
Brian Walsh's fate will go to a jury tomorrow. Good Evening, everyone. I'm J.C. monahan.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
I'm Glenn Jones. Today the defense rested without putting anyone on the stand. Our Robert Goulston sets the stage for closing arguments.
Judge
Have you made a decision about whether you wish to testify at this trial?
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
Yes, I have.
Narrator/Reporter
This is the only testimony we Heard from Brian Walsh during his murder trial.
Judge
What is your decision?
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
I will not testify.
Narrator/Reporter
Walsh was expected to take the stand to explain how he found his wife dead in their bed.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
You will hear evidence that now he is panicking and he doesn't understand what has happened and what is happening.
Narrator/Reporter
He may have considered overnight that it's just not worth the risks. The defense instead rested without offering any evidence to the jury. NBC10 legal analyst Michael Coyne says this happens a lot. What does it say to the jury when the defense doesn't put anybody up? It shouldn't say anything. And the court will instruct them on that. That the defendant doesn't have to do anything, that the burden of proof is on the government. The defense is trying to make the case on a die from a condition called sudden unexpected death. The problem is there really is no other evidence to support it. So while the defendant ultimately may be allowed to argue it, the commonwealth is.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
Going to say that that's just pure nonsense.
Narrator/Reporter
Both sides contend neither has proved a manner of death.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
No direct evidence or circumstantial. EV was a weapon used that caused the death of Anna Walsh.
Defense Attorney (Morgietta Derisier)
Getting DNA off of a knife, using a dishwasher to remove DNA, One can infer that an object was used. A dangerous weapon was used to murder Anna Walsh.
Narrator/Reporter
Coyne explains consciousness of guilt will play a big role in the jury room. He's trying to hide his actions and conceal them. And the jury should consider that to the extent that that would support the murder conviction. Here's what's next. The judge is still finalizing juri and that verdict slip. Right now it's unclear if there'll be a lesser murder charge, for example, something like manslaughter. To give jurors another option. Closing arguments are scheduled for Friday. In denim. Robert Goulston, NBC10 Boston.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
We're joined now by defense attorney Morgietta Derisier and Margaret McLean, a former prosecutor. Welcome back to both of you.
Anchor/Host (J.C. Monahan)
Thank you.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
Let's take a closer look at Walsh's decision not to testify. Here's some more of his back and forth with a judge.
Judge
Has anyone threatened you or promised you anything to get you to give up your right to testify on your own behalf?
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
No.
Judge
I find that the defendant, Brian Walsh, freely, voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently has waived his right to testify at this criminal trial and that he's done so with the knowledge of its consequences. I accept his decision.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
So, Morgieta, let's start by giving you your flowers because we had a group of very smart analysts on this show, three of them in all the other day, and I asked each of them whether or not they thought Brian Walsh would testify. You were the only one who said no, quite firmly.
Defense Attorney (Morgietta Derisier)
Yes.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
Why were you so sure of that? And do you think that is what factored into the decision that the defense made?
Defense Attorney (Morgietta Derisier)
So when you're deciding on whether or not to put your client on the stand, there's two things you really have to weigh. What information can you get from that person that you can't get from any other source? And the risk. And that's the biggest piece here. That was my decision. It was too risky to put him on the stand, not only because of the potential pleas that he took before, but just in his demeanor. In the opening statement, the defense attorney already said that he lied to the police. Why would you put a person like that on the stand and then have the jury believe that he would be credible?
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
So you're not arguing he had zero to offer. You're arguing it was just too risky?
Defense Attorney (Morgietta Derisier)
Very risky, yes, absolutely.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
Okay.
Anchor/Host (J.C. Monahan)
When would you put somebody on the stand? Because I think, for the most part, we've heard that you don't take the stand in your own defense unless forced to. What would be the situation that you would want that?
Defense Attorney (Morgietta Derisier)
Again, like I said, if there is a piece of evidence and again, testimony is evidence that you cannot get from another source, then, yes, you put that person on the stand. In an example like this, when there is no body and you're trying to explain a manner of death, yes, you would put that person on the stand to explain that. But the risk in this case was too great.
Anchor/Host (J.C. Monahan)
I can see that.
Defense Attorney (Morgietta Derisier)
Okay.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
It sure sounded like the judge was expecting Walsh to testify. What do you think changed at the 11th hour, Margaret? Can you speculate what happened last night, maybe when they were finally making this decision?
Judge
Well, first of all, I think it was all up to Brian Walsh. Again, it's his decision. It's his sole decision. He has control of that. And I think it was awful bold of Attorney Tipton, who's a great lawyer, to make those statements in his opening statement about how Bryan was going to testify and go. How he went upstairs and how he, you know, he nudged his wife, who he loved, and then all of a sudden she was dead. And he did it out of fear. Then he covered everything up out of fear that he would lose his voice. So to me, that was such a bold statement. And I think that Bryan was going to testify all along, and he told his lawyers that, and then maybe woke up this morning and he changed his mind or he saw how the jurors were looking at him.
Anchor/Host (J.C. Monahan)
Well, you know what, let's hear that, because you just talked about it, about the opening statements. Here's defense attorney Larry Tipton talking about the sudden, unexpected death.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
You will hear evidence in this case of sudden, unexplained death.
Narrator/Reporter
You will hear evidence that it is real.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
You will hear evidence that it happens in young people and old. You will hear evidence it happens in male and female. You will hear hear evidence it happens during the day and during the night that it happens.
Anchor/Host (J.C. Monahan)
There were on the defense witness list experts about sudden, unexpected death. Margaret, I understand what you both said about Brian not taking the stand, but wouldn't you still want to hear from them for the jurors to hear that this is something that actually happens beyond the one that we heard on the prosecution side?
Judge
Well, I actually, I think Tipton thought he did a decent job on cross examining the state medical examiner on that very issue. And the state medical examiner admitted, yes, there's such a thing. Somebody can be young and in shape and suddenly die. So it's a thing. It's rare, but it's a thing. So he must have made that decision. And plus, because I think because Brian suddenly decided not to testify, there was really no reason to put those experts on. So I think it would have been Brian testifying and then put one of the experts on. That would have been my guess.
Anchor/Host (J.C. Monahan)
Yeah.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
It seems like the defense had their hand forced really, as a result of what happened on the prosecution side. All right, let's look forward now to closing arguments. That'll happen tomorrow. What do you expect the prosecution to do here? From my take, it looks like they have laid a lot of dots out for the jury and all they need to do now in closing is connect them all.
Defense Attorney (Morgietta Derisier)
Absolutely. And the prosecution is going to go into this very confidently, especially since they know that there is no additional testimony coming from the defense side. So you're going to see a very confident closing argument from the prosecution. And I think they're going to lay things out very succinctly from the forensic information that they have, even though they don't have anything from the me, from the testimony from the other witnesses. It's going to come out very strong.
Anchor/Host (J.C. Monahan)
But then what does the defense do? They didn't put on any witnesses. How long is their closing and what notes are they going to hit?
Judge
Well, I think they're going to. It is a textbook circumstantial evidence case. So they're going to say there's still, there's no evidence of how she was killed or you know, why she was killed. So they're going to say, you know, the prosecution is asking you to make a leap of faith instead of reasonable inferences here. And a leap of faith is not proper. So he's going to push on that. But I still think he made a mistake of over promising in his opening statement.
Anchor/Host (J.C. Monahan)
What does he do Morgieta, when you talk about her DNA is on, you know, blades and hacksaws that we saw him purchase in those days after New Year's Eve.
Defense Attorney (Morgietta Derisier)
And as Margaret said, I think that's the problem that we have here is there was an over promise and under deliver because now the jury is just left to some speculate even though they're not supposed to, but they're human, you know, they come in with their own common sense and reasoning and they are going to speculate. And so I don't really know what you do with that except you still have to focus on the elements and one of the elements is a specific intent. And I don't think that the prosecution really delivered on that. So that's probably what the defense is going to rest on.
Narrator/Reporter
Yeah.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
Well done with your call the other day. I must say I felt like you were on that island all along and you proved to be right.
Anchor/Host (J.C. Monahan)
He Margaret. Margaret, thank you so much for joining us. Morgietta, stay in the seat please. Because we have a deeper dive into the past of Brian Walsh coming up. He once faced serious allegations from his own family centered on money. We take a closer look at the bitter legal battle over who was entitled to inherit his father's estate.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
And as we go to break, we're taking a moment to remember Anna Walsh. She grew up in Serbia, later immigrated to the U.S. she ended up settling in Cohasset with her husband. She became a successful businesswoman who was co parenting three young sons at the time of her disappearance. She was just 39 years old. You're watching Commonwealth Confidential the Brian Walsh murder trial.
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Anchor/Host (J.C. Monahan)
Years before he was accused of murdering his wife, court records uncovered by the NBC 10 Investigator Show Brian Walsh faced serious allegations from his own family members.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
NBC10 investigator Ryan Cath explains what the documents reveal about Walsh's past and motivations Tied to money Brian Walsh was an.
Narrator/Reporter
Only child, but court records claim the relationship with his father fractured after he allegedly disappeared with a lot of money. And after Walsh's father died, we discovered a bitter legal battle over who was entitled to inherit his estate. Dr. Thomas Walsh owned this oceanside home in Hull when he passed away in 2018 while traveling in India. In sworn affidavits, friends and family say it was well known that he was estranged from his only child, Brian Walsh, and had taken him out of the will. That fractured relationship stemmed from a real estate deal involving this property in Lenox. According to those court documents and a family friend I spoke with on the phone, Brian allegedly took off with hundreds of thousands of dollars of his father's money, and the day he got that check at the closing was the last time his father ever spoke to him. He just disappeared off the face of the earth, and his father was in shock. But that didn't stop Brian from trying to file legal action to take control of his father's estate after his death. When friends learned the property and Hull had mysteriously gone up for sale, Brian had emptied the house completely of all the goods expensive Persian carpets, mirrors, Kandinsky's, you know, and other expensive artifacts and staged it for sale. During the ensuing probate battle, a nephew said he'd been named as executor of the estate, and friends sign affidavits they'd seen the will itself, which had left nothing for his son. Brian argued in court filings the will had been destroyed when the house flooded from a burst pipe. But the nephew countered, it's clear Brian destroyed the last will and testament, which excluded him from any inheritance. When he gained access to the whole property during that legal feud, another family friend described a violent episode involving Brian during a trip to China with his father. Brian allegedly tried to smuggle valuable items out of the country, the friend wrote. When Brian was confronted, he picked up a stanchion and literally attempted to kill four or five guards that had come to talk to him about his crime. The family friend went on to call Brian Walsh a sociopath, a description that repeatedly showed up in those court documents. Records show the nephew prevailed in the probate case and sold the whole property in 2020. Prosecutors say one of the damning searches Walsh made on an iPad when his wife vanished was, quote, how long for someone to be missing to inherit? Ryan Cath, NBC10 Investigators.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
We're back now with defense attorney and fortune teller.
Courtroom Insider (Sue O'Connell)
That's right.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
That's correct.
Courtroom Insider (Sue O'Connell)
I was wrong. But she's a lawyer. I am not.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
And that would be our courtroom insider, Sue o'. Connell. So the jury knows nothing about Brian Walsh's past, certainly not the stuff that we were just mentioning there. They also don't know about his guilty pleasure to the lesser charges. The judge talked about that today in court. Take a listen.
Judge
If the defendant defense was permitted to.
Courtroom Insider (Sue O'Connell)
Tell the jury that he pled guilty.
Judge
To the two lesser charges, there is a risk, substantial risk, that the jurors will consider the defendant's impending punishment on those charges when determining his guilt on the remaining murder charge.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
Just a quick reminder, on day one of jury selection last month, Walsh pleaded guilty to misleading police and disposing of his wife's remains. That left him fighting just the first degree murder charge. Jurors have heard about the federal case against him. But if jurors were hoping to get answers from him directly about Ana's death, that won't happen now because he's not taking the stand. Sue, you and I have been talking about sort of divorcing ourselves from all the things we know so that we can put ourselves in the minds of the jury. But when we do that, jurors also know a lot, even though they don't know as much as us, right?
Courtroom Insider (Sue O'Connell)
I mean, what they know, what they saw, if we take. And I'm sure they may know something, right, because they're humans. But if we take it from the viewpoint that they don't know that he pled to these, that he likely dismembered his wife's body, that he spread it out through all of these dumpsters, what they were watching the prosecution present was evidence that they're presenting of a murder. Not from the perspective of he's getting Rid of the body. He's cut the body up. So I think in some ways it actually is worse for him than it would be if they knew about the dismemberment. Because when you think about how the judge actually walked when he was talking to Councillor Tipton today, walked everybody through what the argument is that the prosecution can make without any conversation about dismemberment or disbursing of the body improperly. It's knife, it's hydrogen peroxide, it's washer machine, it's slippers with blood on it, it's trips to the stores to buy these things. It's all of that. And that is what they're listening through the ear of. Did he commit murder? Not did he get rid of a body?
Anchor/Host (J.C. Monahan)
Well, deliberations are about to begin. A big question on the minds of many is whether or not the first degree murder charge could jurors convict Brian Walsh potentially of something else. You'll recall from the Karen Reid retrial, the verdict slip that jurors ultimately filled contained a number of lesser included offenses. And in that case, jurors ultimately acquitted Reid of the three most serious charges she was facing, including second degree murder. She was convicted of oui. And that was a late addition to the jury, to the the jury slip. Morgietta and sue. The Walsh trial is in Norfolk county where we're dealing with the same laws here. Morgietta, will they only have first degree murder?
Defense Attorney (Morgietta Derisier)
Likely not. There'll be some sort of amendment to the jury verdict slip. But the issue that we have here, as sue said, the ear from where they're listening all points to some sort of homicide, whether it's first degree or second degree. I think even if they put manslaughter, it's likely not because remember, manslaughter means it was an accident, but we have no testimony about whether it was intentional or not intentional. So it's going to lead to some sort of homicide either way.
Courtroom Insider (Sue O'Connell)
And remember this judge also, she's not a Norfolk county judge. She has been through other counties. She said a couple of times today, I'm thrilled to be here in Norfolk county working on this. So her approach to this is not going to be, I think because she's almost like a traveling judge, it sounds like she has a better sort of viewpoint of doing these things and getting the slip together and being more organized. And this is just the way that we do business that I think every courthouse suffers from.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
Now, Morgan, if we go to a finer point here because of all the things that sue laid out for us that the jury does know it may be weak on intent.
Defense Attorney (Morgietta Derisier)
I disagree because the issue is when you have all three charges, the jury wants to land on something. And that was the same issue we had with the Karen Reid case. They wanted to land on something and they landed on the oui. They only have one charge in front of them. So all of the information that they have, a reasonable inference can be made that it leads to a homicide and that's what they are left with. If it was my case, I would have just put it all on the table. Why plea out to two and then have them hear information about it and then not testify? Now you're just pointing them into one direction. So you know, it's difficult.
Courtroom Insider (Sue O'Connell)
It's difficult and it's common sense, right? This is what the judge I imagine is going to say to them tomorrow. Use your common sense. And when you've eliminated that, the common sense might be, well, maybe he didn't do it, but he was disposing of the body. But, but now since to Morgietta's point, since it's all lumped together and going in one direction, the common sense might lead them to, you know, we don't need much of a motive. We don't really need a motive at all. Right? But we have this evidence that points to that. And plus look at you had financial crisis, you had somebody having an affair, you had one of the spouses working far away four or five days. You had one spouse who was under pressure from a criminal indictment with children that they're managing and a mother who's very involved in their relationship. You know, that's enough motive that a good prosecution can really kind of drum something up.
Anchor/Host (J.C. Monahan)
Yeah, I can see that. Sue Morgietta, as always, thank you both so much. We'll be back tomorrow of course, because we will start, we'll have the closing arguments for both sides and then of course deliberations. You can watch those closing arguments tomorrow morning on NBC 10 as well as our sister station NECN. Live coverage begins at 9:00am and if.
Anchor/Host (Glenn Jones)
You have any questions about the case we want to hear from you, send them to commonwealth.confidentialbcuni.com Be sure to catch.
Anchor/Host (J.C. Monahan)
The NBC 10 award winning podcast. The searches for Anna Walsh. You can find it on our website or wherever you get your podcasts. You're watching Commonwealth Confidential, the Brian Walsh murder trial.
Defense Attorney (Morgietta Derisier)
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Episode: Brian Walshe trial recap | Defense rests without calling a witness
Date: December 12, 2025
Host: NBC10 Boston (J.C. Monahan and Glenn Jones)
Guests: Morgietta Derisier (Defense Attorney), Margaret McLean (Former Prosecutor), Sue O’Connell (Courtroom Insider), Michael Coyne (Legal Analyst)
This episode delivers an in-depth nightly recap of the Brian Walshe murder trial, where Walshe stands accused of killing his wife, Ana Walshe. The focus is on the defense’s surprising decision to rest without calling a single witness after the prosecution presented 47 witnesses, and Brian Walshe himself chose not to testify. The conversation draws expert opinions on the legal strategies, anticipated closing arguments, the implications for the jury, and a closer look at Walshe’s complicated financial history and family disputes. The broader implications for jury deliberation and the nature of the charges are also considered.
Risks of Testifying
Jury Instructions
Prosecution’s Confidence
Likely Deliberations
Jury's Perspective and Human Nature
On Why Walshe Didn’t Testify
On the Defense’s Unfulfilled Promises
On Jury Human Nature
On Motive and Evidence
On Combining Charges and Jury Decisions
This episode captures a pivotal moment in the Brian Walshe murder trial, dissecting the defense's unorthodox choice to rest without witnesses and the fallout from Walshe's refusal to testify. Legal experts and insiders analyze the complexities this creates for the jury—balancing lack of direct evidence, circumstantial forensic details, and questions of intent. The discussion also uncovers Walshe’s contentious personal and financial history, positing possible motives and adding color to the official narrative (while emphasizing that the jury remains unaware of these background details).
Looking ahead, anticipation builds for the closing arguments, with both sides poised to distill their theories for the jury. The episode closes by honoring Ana Walshe’s memory and previewing the next day's courtroom drama.