A Norfolk County jury found Brian Walshe guilty of first-degree murder on Monday, after deliberating for approximately six hours.
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Brian Walshe sentenced to life in prison for murdering and dismembering wife
Brian Walshe was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a Massachusetts jury
found him guilty of killing and dismembering his wife, the mother of their three children, with the judge calling his acts "barbaric and incomprehensible."
He faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of first-degree murder.
Judge Diane Freniere said that the sentence, the only appropriate sentence under the law, is "immensely appropriate and just, given your murderous acts and the life trauma that you've inflicted upon your own children."
She said that because of his lies to police, "thousands of hours of investigative resources were wasted, diverted from other deserving cases," and that his "acts in dismembering your wife's body and disposing of her remains in multiple area dumpsters can only be described as barbaric and incomprehensible."
"You had no regard for the lifelong mental harm that your criminal acts inflicted on your then 2-, 4- and 6-year-old sons," she said, noting that they will "never being able to properly grieve that loss to say goodbye to their mom."
She handed down consecutive sentences on the three counts, with up to 20 years for lying to police and up to three years for illegally disposing of his wife's body.
Ana Walshe's sister addressed the court ahead of sentencing, saying the "incomprehensible act" has left her and their mother with an "unbearable emptiness."
Her sister, Aleksandra Dimitrijevic, asked the court to consider the "long-lasting" impact her murder will have on her children in handing down the sentence.
"The most painful part of this loss is knowing her children must now grow up without their mother's hand to hold," she said. "They now face a lifetime of milestones, big and small, where her absence will be deeply and painfully felt."
The Commonwealth argued that each of the three charges "calls for a harsh penalty" and asked that Brian Walshe be sentenced consecutively, while the defense responded that consecutive sentences would be "inappropriate and inhumane."
Prosecutor Greg Connor suggested the word inhumane "describes the defendant's actions and the depravity of his actions -- of murdering his wife, dismembering her and getting rid of her remains by throwing her away like garbage."
Connor said those actions deprived Ana Walshe's family of a grave and memorial.
The judge said she had received and reviewed sentencing memorandums from prosecutors and the defense, as well as multiple written victim impact statements. One submitted on behalf of Ana Walshe's children from the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families relayed the "devastating impact on her children," the judge said.
"It's clear to me that Ana was a bright light in the lives of many people. She lifted people up," the judge said.
Freniere said she also considered a letter submitted by Brian Walshe's mother on his behalf, but she said she "simply cannot reconcile the person Diana Walshe describes in her letter with the person who stands before me for sentence."
"Mr. Walshe, you will live with the guilt and burden of Ana Walshe's death for the rest of your life," Freniere said before sentencing him to life in prison.
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