DEDHAM, Mass. — Attorneys for Karen Read are again urging the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office to return her cell phones, eight months after she was acquitted in the death of John O’Keefe, her Boston police officer boyfriend.
Read and her legal team appeared in Dedham’s Norfolk Superior Court on Thursday, where they argued that prosecutors have held onto her phones long enough and that it’s time for her property to be returned.
Prosecutors, however, have been seeking permission to search the devices as part of ongoing legal proceedings.
In a blow to the DA’s office earlier this month, Judge Peter Krupp denied special prosecutor Robert Cosgrove’s request to analyze Read’s two iPhones, and the prosecution was given a 30-day window to file an appeal or a motion for reconsideration regarding the search warrant.
A judge has not yet ruled on whether investigators will be allowed to examine the phones, which were seized in January 2024 as part of a witness intimidation investigation.
The investigation centers on Read’s communications with Aiden Kearney, the digital content creator known as “Turtleboy” and the face of the “Free Karen Read” movement.
Despite the warrant to search the phones being denied, the devices remain in the custody of the Massachusetts State Police.
Read’s Lexus SUV was returned to her in September 2025, three months after her acquittal. The vehicle was set to be auctioned off in January.
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