Will the retrial of Karen Read be delayed? Judge overseeing murder case weighs multiple motions

DEDHAM, Mass. — Karen Read, the woman accused in the murder of her Boston police officer boyfriend, appeared in court Wednesday morning as Judge Beverly Cannone heard multiple motions ahead of her rapidly approaching retrial.

Earlier this month, Read’s defense team and the prosecution asked Cannone to push her retrial back from the tentatively scheduled date of Jan. 27 to April to allow for a “more efficient” presentation of evidence.

Cannone ultimately told those gathered in Dedham’s Norfolk Superior Court on Wednesday that she’s still planning on a January timeline for the second trial.

Read’s lawyers also asked to see Norfolk DA Morrissey’s personal emails and texts, as well as sidebar transcripts from her first trial.

Cannone ruled that both sides will be given transcripts of the sidebars but made it clear that they can’t be released to the public.

Special Assistant District Attorney Hank Brennan, one of Whitey Bulger’s defense attorneys who was appointed by Morrissey in September to lead the Commonwealth’s retrial of Read, asked Cannone for permission to reassemble and retest electronics in Read’s Lexus SUV after conceding that the prosecution’s original expert failed to calculate the digital information storage correctly.

Read’s legal team also announced its intention to fight the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office motion to view calls and texts made by Bill Read, Karen’s father, around the time of John O’Keefe’s death in Canton in January 2022.

The defense claims prosecutors already have records of calls between Karen Read and her father from Karen’s phone.

“The Commonwealth’s motion is a fishing expedition, and an inappropriate attempt to invade Mr. Read’s privacy,” Read’s lawyers stated in a memorandum. “All plausibly relevant information that the Commonwealth could glean from the requested cellular records is redundant and duplicative of the information already contained in Ms. Read’s cellular telephone and Verizon records, which have been in the Commonwealth’s possession since the start of this case.”

Read’s lawyers also stated that the latest request from the DA’s office is “thinly veiled,” arguing prosecutors have “failed to demonstrate” why her father’s records are relevant to case proceedings.

“The instant request constitutes a thinly veiled attempt to embark on a blind inquiry into Mr. Read’s personal information and cellular data. Indeed, to the extent that the Commonwealth seeks records unrelated to Ms. Read, the request is overbroad and an impermissible and invasive violation of Mr. Read’s privacy. For these reasons, the Commonwealth’s motion should be denied,” the filings continued.

Prosecutors have alleged that Bill Read has made conflicting statements about conversations with his daughter and they plan to call him as a witness at the next trial.

The defense also informed Cannone that they plan to call its dog bite expert at the second trial but there will be a hearing regarding the admissibility of her testimony in December.

Prosecutors have also asked to see the un-aired footage of an interview 25 Investigates conducted with Bill and Janet Read, and Read’s brother Nathan, on Aug. 1, 2023.

Cannone will ultimately announce decisions on the motions at a later date.

The SJC is currently determining if jurors who sat through Read’s first trial for the death of John O’Keefe will be questioned about their deliberations. The SJC will issue a written decision that could take four months before it is published.

Read’s lawyers have been fighting to dismiss her second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly crash charge for double jeopardy reasons.

Double jeopardy is a legal protection that prohibits anyone from being prosecuted twice for the same crime.

Read is accused of killing O’Keefe, her Boston police officer boyfriend, by striking him with her SUV and leaving him in a snowstorm in Canton in January 2022.

Morrissey’s office opposes Read’s bid to get the charges dropped and argues that Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone was correct when she ruled all of Read’s charges should remain for her retrial.

Read is hopeful to avoid a retrial that Cannone tentatively scheduled for January 2025.

Her first trial ended with a hung jury in July.

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• ‘Framing me’: Karen Read talks O’Keefe death, reveals financial toll of murder case in new interview
• Huge hotel bill, haunting nightmare among new details revealed in Part 2 of Karen Read interview

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