Legal drama continues to swirl around the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office this autumn, as two high-profile criminal cases—one involving the controversial blogger Aidan Kearney, better known as Turtleboy, and the other the accused murderer Brian Walshe—face pivotal moments in courtrooms across Massachusetts. Both cases, though distinct in their facts and characters, are now tangled in a web of prosecutorial challenges, disputed evidence, and the lingering shadow of the Karen Read trial that rocked the region’s justice system just months ago.
On September 24, 2025, the intricate legal saga surrounding Aidan Kearney took a dramatic turn when special prosecutor Robert Cosgrove withdrew from one of Kearney’s three witness intimidation cases. According to reporting by Boston.com, Cosgrove’s exit came after the alleged victim—Kearney’s ex-girlfriend—named him in response to a defamation suit filed by Kearney in Worcester County. Cosgrove acknowledged the complexity of the situation in open court, stating, “The situation does not seem to me personally, and I’m not speaking for the [Norfolk County District Attorney’s] Office, conducive to enticing a special prosecutor to assume my position. So we’ll have to see what develops.”
This latest development leaves the case in a state of uncertainty, or as Kearney’s attorney Mark Bederow described it, “essentially stateless.” The presiding judge, Michael Doolin, had previously disqualified the other special prosecutor, Ken Mello, after determining that Mello had made himself a potential witness by communicating with the alleged victim during the period in question. Now, with both special prosecutors sidelined, the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office has been given 30 days from September 24 to appoint a new special prosecutor—whether from the Attorney General’s Office or another jurisdiction.
Kearney, a leading voice in the “Free Karen Read” movement, rose to prominence defending Read’s innocence in the 2022 death of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. The Read case, which saw supporters claim she was framed as part of a vast law enforcement conspiracy, ended with her acquittal of murder and manslaughter charges. However, prosecutors allege that Kearney’s activism crossed the line into illegal witness intimidation, a charge his attorneys vigorously dispute, arguing his actions are protected by the First Amendment.
The legal wrangling doesn’t end there. Cosgrove continues to prosecute Kearney in two other witness intimidation cases, but those too are facing challenges. Kearney’s defense team has filed an 88-page motion to dismiss the original 2023 indictment, alleging prosecutorial misconduct. The motion, set to be argued on December 5, 2025, claims authorities impaired the integrity of the grand jury proceedings by presenting doctored evidence—specifically, edited and renamed segments from Kearney’s lengthy YouTube episodes, which the defense says distorted the true context of his remarks.
According to the motion, authorities gave these cherrypicked clips provocative titles such as “enjoying watching witnesses squirm” and “trying to destroy Colin’s life,” referencing a key witness from the Read case. Kearney’s attorneys further accuse Ken Mello of making “improper comments” to the grand jury and introducing irrelevant evidence meant to “dirty up” their client. As the defense put it in a sharply worded memorandum, “The Commonwealth’s misconduct has fueled its misguided obsession to ‘get Turtleboy.’ It has stained the Norfolk DA’s Office, Mr. Mello, and the [Massachusetts State Police], all of whom have been directed and/or influenced by civilians upset with the fact that Mr. Kearney’s reporting has exposed their alleged involvement in the death of John O’Keefe.”
Meanwhile, the Norfolk County DA faces another legal headache. On September 25, 2025, attorneys for Brian Walshe and other murder defendants in the county pressed for access to evidence related to former Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor’s phones, which had been used in the Karen Read trial. As reported by NBC Boston, the evidence—between 3,000 and 5,000 pieces of communication stored in Proctor’s cloud account—was provided to the DA’s office under the strict condition that it be used only in the Read trial and then destroyed. But Walshe’s lawyers, along with those representing other defendants, argue that the material could contain exculpatory evidence relevant to their own cases, all of which were investigated in Norfolk County where Proctor worked.
Prosecutors told a judge on September 25 that they believe they have a potential way to provide the materials, but need a couple more weeks to finalize a plan with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The urgency is mounting: defense attorney Rosemary Scapicchio, who represents Myles King (accused of a 2021 murder in Milton), warned at a previous hearing that the destruction order date for the evidence was only 35 days away. “I’m concerned that if at some point this court needs to make an order, we want to make sure we’re giving them enough time,” Scapicchio said. “We can’t do what happened initially where the day before where we’re making phone calls and this stuff is getting destroyed tomorrow.”
The presiding judge, however, expressed more optimism about the progress made in the preceding weeks, and scheduled a follow-up hearing for October 7, 2025, to get an update on the evidence-sharing process. He noted that the matter might even be resolved by letter before then, but left open the possibility of further court action if necessary.
Brian Walshe, 48, of Cohasset, is facing a first-degree murder charge, misleading a police investigation, and other counts in the death of his wife, Ana Walshe. The case has drawn national attention not only for its grisly details—Ana Walshe, originally from Serbia, was last seen on January 1, 2023, after a New Year’s Eve dinner, and her body has never been recovered—but also for the digital trail prosecutors allege her husband left behind. According to authorities, beginning January 1 and for several days after, Brian Walshe made a series of online searches such as “dismemberment and best ways to dispose of a body,” “how long before a body starts to smell,” and “hacksaw best tool to dismember.” Prosecutors have also revealed that Ana Walshe held a $2.7 million life insurance policy naming her husband as the sole beneficiary. Brian Walshe has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and his trial is set to begin October 20, 2025.
The cases of Kearney and Walshe—both now entwined with the fallout from the Karen Read trial and the conduct of former Trooper Proctor—highlight the complicated, often messy realities of high-stakes criminal justice in Massachusetts. With prosecutors under scrutiny, evidence in limbo, and defense attorneys raising alarms about due process, the coming months promise to test the integrity and transparency of the state’s legal institutions. As both sides prepare for crucial hearings, the eyes of the public—and no doubt many in law enforcement—remain fixed on the unfolding drama in Norfolk County.
Whatever the outcome, these proceedings are sure to shape the conversation about criminal justice, prosecutorial power, and the role of digital evidence in the Bay State for years to come.
