Overview
- Day two ended with 12 jurors seated, leaving four more needed to complete a 16-person panel before opening statements can begin.
- Judge Diane Freniere is overseeing selection in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, where 35 candidates were interviewed Tuesday and 47 Wednesday, with two additional groups expected Thursday.
- Just before selection began, Walshe pleaded guilty to misleading police and improper conveyance of a human body, leaving first-degree murder as the lone count to be tried.
- Legal specialists say the pleas appear aimed at conceding “bad facts,” limiting prejudicial evidence, and positioning the defense to seek a lesser homicide verdict.
- Prosecutors cite alleged early-morning Google searches about disposing of a body, a damaged bloody knife found by police, and the absence of recovered remains.