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(DEDHAM, Mass.) — Brian Walshe is set to be sentenced on Thursday after a Massachusetts jury found him guilty of killing and dismembering his wife, the mother of their three children.

His wife, Ana Walshe, went missing on Jan. 1, 2023, at the age of 39. Her body has not been found.

Brian Walshe, 50, pleaded guilty last month to improperly disposing of her body and lying to police following her disappearance. He had changed his plea on the two charges before jury selection got underway for the trial, while maintaining that he did not kill her.

A Norfolk County jury found Brian Walshe guilty of first-degree murder on Monday, after deliberating for approximately six hours over two days.

He is set to be sentenced on all three charges in the case on Thursday and faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of first-degree murder.

Brian Walshe did not testify during the two-week trial in Dedham, and the defense did not call any witnesses.

Defense attorneys said during the trial that Brian Walshe did not kill his wife but found her dead in bed on New Year’s Day in 2023 — calling her death sudden and unexplained — and then panicked and lied to police as they investigated her disappearance.

Prosecutors said Brian Walshe premeditatedly murdered and dismembered his wife, then disposed of her remains in dumpsters. The internet history on his devices on Jan. 1, 2023, included searches such as “best way to dispose of a body,” “how long for someone to be missing to inherit,” and “best way to dispose of body parts after a murder,” prosecutors said.

Evidence presented during the trial included surveillance footage of a man believed to be Brian Walshe buying tools and other supplies at a Lowe’s on Jan. 1, 2023. A receipt showed that items, including a hacksaw, utility knife, hammer, snips, Tyvek suit, shoeguards, rags and cleaning supplies, totaling $462, were purchased with cash.

Additional surveillance footage presented in court showed someone throwing out trash bags at dumpsters on multiple days in early January 2023.

Several blood-stained items recovered from dumpsters by investigators — including a hacksaw, a piece of rug, a towel and hairs — and an unknown tissue were linked to Ana Walshe through DNA testing, a forensic scientist from the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory testified during the trial.

Ana Walshe was reported missing by her employer on Jan. 4, 2023. Brian Walshe told police at the time that she had a “work emergency” at her job in D.C. and left their Cohasset home on New Year’s Day, according to audio of his interview played in court.

Jurors heard testimony, including from a D.C. man with whom Ana Walshe was having an affair, that the mother of three was upset about being away from her young children so much — who were 2, 4 and 6 at the time — and there was stress in the marriage.

At the time, Brian Walshe and their three children were living in Massachusetts while he was awaiting sentencing in a federal fraud case after pleading guilty to a scheme to sell counterfeit Andy Warhol paintings. He was ultimately sentenced to 37 months in federal prison in that case.

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(NEW YORK) — Nick Reiner, the son of slain director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, has retained a high-profile attorney to represent him as he faces murder charges in their killing.

Alan Jackson, who defended Kevin Spacey, Harvey Weinstein and Karen Read has been serving as the 32-year-old’s attorney. Jackson has been in contact with Nick Reiner since he was arrested Sunday and speaking to the press as the case develops.

“Every inmate has to be medically cleared before they can be transferred to court, he has not been medically cleared. It’s just a procedural issue,” Jackson told reporters on Tuesday.

Rob Reiner and Singer were found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home Sunday afternoon, and their son was arrested less than a day later. The Los Angeles District Attorney charged Nick Reiner with first degree murder on Tuesday.

The arraignment is scheduled for Jan. 7.

“There are very, very complex and serious issues that are associated with this case,” Jackson told reporters after a court hearing on Wednesday. “These need to be thoroughly but very carefully dealt with and examined and looked at and analyzed.”

“We ask that during this process, you allow the system to move forward in the way that it was designed to move forward, not with the rush to judgment, not with jumping to conclusions, but with restraint and with dignity and with the respect that this system and this process deserves and that the family deserves,” he added.

Jackson also said, “our hearts go out to the entire Reiner family.”

This case is the latest of several major cases that Jackson has taken on in his long legal career.

Jackson spent the beginning of his law career in the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office, where he served as assistant head deputy for the Major Crimes Division. One of his biggest prosecutions was the murder case against music producer Phil Spector.

After one mistrial, Spector was ultimately convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 19 years to life in prison.

Jackson ran for LA district attorney in 2012 but lost the election. He shifted to private practice and amassed a who’s who of clients.

He represented Kevin Spacey after the actor was charged in 2019 of indecent assault and battery. Spacey pleaded not guilty and the charges were ultimately dropped after the prosecutors’ case began to fall apart under scrutiny by the defense.

“This entire case is completely compromised” by the accuser’s decision to take the Fifth [Amendment],” Jackson told the judge in the case. “He’s the sole witness than can establish the circumstances of his allegation.”

Jackson represented disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein in his Los Angeles criminal trial over sexual assault charges in 2022.

The attorney told the jury in his closing argument that the evidence was “smoke and mirrors” and accused the women who testified of being “fame and fortune seekers.”

In a separate case that didn’t involve Jackson, Weinstein had been convicted in a New York court prior to the LA case on similar charges. This was overturned on appeal — he was convicted on one count of engaging in criminal sex but acquitted on a second count in his sex crimes retrial in New York. The judge declared a mistrial on a third-degree rape count.

He was ultimately convicted in the LA trial on Dec. 19, 2022, and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He has appealed that conviction — Jackson is not representing him in the appeal.

Recently, Jackson represented Karen Read, a Massachusetts woman who was charged with killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, in January 2022.

A murder trial against Read led to a mistrial in 2024 after jurors could not come to a verdict. In June, Read was acquitted in a second trial on second-degree murder and leaving a scene of personal injury and death charges.

The jury found her guilty of operating under the influence of liquor. The judge immediately sentenced her to one year of probation, the standard for a first-time offense.

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(NEW YORK) — This Christmas and New Year’s holiday period is expected to be the busiest on record.

More than 122 million people are expected to travel between Dec. 20 and Jan. 1 — a 2.2% jump from last year’s record high of 119.7 million travelers, according to AAA.

Here’s what you need to know before you head to the airport or hit the road:

Air travel
About 8.03 million people are expected to fly within the U.S. over the holidays — a 2.3% increase from last year, according to AAA.

Florida, Southern California and Hawaii are topping the domestic destinations list for the holidays, according to AAA’s booking data, showing many travelers have decided to forgo a white Christmas for fun in the sun.

United Airlines said it is expecting its busiest winter holiday season ever, with the Saturday after Christmas — Dec. 27 — forecast to be the airline’s most crowded day.

American Airlines said its planning for four flights to depart each minute over its holiday period, from Dec. 18 through Jan. 5. American said its busiest day will be Friday, Dec. 19, followed by Sunday, Jan. 4.

Road travel
About 109.5 million people are forecast to travel by car over the holidays, up 2% from last year, AAA said.

The weekend before Christmas — which falls on Saturday, Dec. 20, and Sunday, Dec. 21 — is expected to be especially busy, and so is the day after Christmas, Friday, Dec. 26, according to analytics company INRIX.

Christmas Day and New Year’s Day — which both fall on Thursdays — are anticipated to be the quietest days on the roads, INRIX said.

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(NEW YORK) — The Powerball jackpot is estimated to climb to $1.5 billion for Saturday night’s drawing, marking the fifth-largest prize in the lottery’s history, after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn on Wednesday, the lottery said.

A $1.25 billion Powerball jackpot prize had been up for grabs Wednesday night, with a cash value of $572.1 million. The winning numbers drawn Wednesday were: 25, 33, 53, 62, 66 and red Powerball 17.

That was the game’s sixth largest prize ever, according to Powerball. The largest prize ever was $2.04 billion won on Nov. 7, 2022.

The Powerball jackpot was last hit on Sept. 6 by two tickets in Missouri and Texas that split a $1.787 billion prize. There have been 43 consecutive drawings with no jackpot wins.

If a player had won on Wednesday night, they would have had the choice between annual payments worth an estimated $1.25 billion or an immediate $572.1 million lump sum payment.

According to Powerball, the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.

The drawing will be held just before 11 p.m. ET in the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee.

Powerball tickets are $2 per play.

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