January 20, 2023
https://www.newsweek.com/brian-walshe-likely-plead-guilty-defense-weak-attorney-rachel-fiset-1774982
Criminal Defense attorney Rachel Fiset, managing partner of Los Angeles-based Zweiback, Fiset & Zalduendo, spoke to Newsweek and reflected on the case.
She noted the recent reports on Brian Walshe that indicated that someone Googled topics related to disposing of a body on his son’s iPad.
These searches were revealed by the prosecution during Brian Walshe’s arraignment on Wednesday.
Some of the Google searches allegedly made included: “How to stop a body from decomposing,” “How long does DNA last,” “Dismemberment,” “the best ways to dispose of a body,” and how to clean blood from wooden floor.”
Speaking on this development, Fiset said: “Brian may have used his son’s iPad to make the gruesome Google searches because he thought it wouldn’t be searched, but if prosecutors can prove he had access to it, and his fingerprints were on it, then it is most likely he made the searches, and not one of his 2-, 4-, or 6-year-old sons.
“While this is circumstantial evidence, it is very damning. The reason investigators take computers is to find evidence that looks exactly like this.
“To get around the hearsay of the searches, forensic experts will need to authenticate the searches, and prosecutors will use the searches as party admissions from Brian that he committed the crime.
“They’ll have to prove that this is reliable evidence and show that he couldn’t have meant something else, or that it was a misspelling.
She also discussed what strategy Brian Walshe’s defense attorneys may use.
She continued: “Brian’s defense attorneys will try to argue that everything is circumstantial. That investigators don’t have the body, can’t show the body, and don’t have videos of Brian committing the crime.
“But, the cameras are starting to place him at the scene, and when you combine that surveillance footage with the evidence they do have, I don’t see a lot going in Brian’s favor in this case right now.
“At some point, I think he will plead guilty, because his case will be too weak to fight this.”
