New motions filed in Karen Read murder case after Mass. SJC rejection

DEDHAM, Mass. — A flurry of new filings in the Karen Read murder case were obtained Wednesday by Boston 25, one day after Massachusetts’ highest court ruled that the 44-year-old Mansfield woman can be retried on all three charges in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend.

Special prosecutor Hank Brennan filed a motion to block ARCCAA witnesses from testifying in Read’s retrial in April, noting in court documents that he’s exchanged letters with the feds about two of the multidisciplinary engineering consulting firm’s experts.

Dr. Daniel Wolfe, an accident reconstruction specialist, and Dr. Andrew Rentschler, a biomechanical engineering specialist, both testified on behalf of Read in June 2024.

“Both Dr. Wolfe and Dr. Rentschler admittedly did not review all pertinent and relevant evidence that exists in this case, asserted that did not speak with the defense prior to their testimonies, and conducted experimentation and analysis that exceeded the facts and circumstances of this case,” Brennan stated in the motion.

Brennan’s letters to the feds have been impounded.

Read’s defense team also filed a “motion to compel discovery,” requesting the chain of custody logs for the Canton Police Department, details from embattled Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor’s internal affairs investigation, and notes related to “material law enforcement” in the Sandra Birchmore murder case, in addition to other materials.

Additionally, the defense is looking to block a prosecution expert, Dr. James Crosby, from testifying about the injuries to John O’Keefe’s arm.

The defense argues Crosby “is not qualified to render the opinions he proffers,” stating in the motion that “it is undisputed that he is not a medical doctor.”

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts on Tuesday morning denied Karen Read’s bid to get two of three criminal charges she faces in the January 2022 death of her Boston police officer boyfriend dropped.

In the 35-page ruling, the SJC stated, “The trial judge correctly denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss and request for a posttrial juror inquiry. The case is remanded to the county court for entry of a judgment denying the defendant’s petition for relief.”

Read’s attorneys are now considering their legal options, including federal habeas corpus relief.

In November 2024, Read’s legal team appeared before the state’s highest court in Boston and formally requested that the SJC dismiss her charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly crash for double jeopardy reasons.

Read’s first murder trial ended in July 2024 when hopelessly deadlocked jurors told Cannone that they couldn’t come to a unanimous decision on a verdict, leading to a mistrial.

Read’s lawyers later filed an appeal challenging Cannone’s decision not to dismiss two of three charges against her.

Read’s attorneys had argued that their client’s double jeopardy protections were violated because several jurors who came forward after the mistrial indicated that Read was found not guilty of the two charges in question.

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They had also argued that polling the jury would show the panel reached “not guilty” verdicts on the two charges and that they were only hung on Read’s manslaughter charge.

The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office had opposed Read’s bid to get the charges dropped, arguing that Cannone was correct when she ruled all of Read’s charges should remain for her retrial.

Read is accused of hitting John O’Keefe, her boyfriend at the time, with her Lexus SUV on Jan. 29, 2022, and leaving him to die after a night of drinking.

The defense has sought to portray Read as the victim, saying O’Keefe was actually killed inside the Albert family home and then dragged outside and left for dead.

The retrial of Read has been delayed until April 2025.

In an exclusive one-on-one interview on Super Bowl Sunday, Read told Boston 25′s Ted Daniel that she has “nothing to hide” and that she’s “been framed” for murder.

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