DEDHAM, Mass. — Judge Beverly Cannone has denied Karen Read’s request to add another attorney to her defense team ahead of the start of her second murder trial.
Cannone ruled in a Friday filing in Dedham’s Norfolk Superior Court that Mark Bederow, who currently represents the controversial blogger known as “Turtleboy,” won’t be allowed to join Read’s lineup of high-powered attorneys over conflict of interest and information sharing concerns.
Judge Cannone denies Karen Read’s request to add attorney Mark Bederow to her defense team. pic.twitter.com/9dA7XqT9Wz
— Ted Daniel (@TedDanielnews) March 7, 2025
“The ‘affirmation’ submitted in support of the motion is insufficient on its face,” Cannone wrote in the ruling. “The court cannot permit such conflicted representation and declines to add to the defense team that currently members at least four lawyers.”
Bederow currently represents Aidan Kearney, known online as Turtleboy, on three criminal cases in the state, including witness tampering allegations in Read’s murder case.
Also on Friday, Read’s lawyers entered new exhibits to support their motion to dismiss the case for “extraordinary governmental misconduct.”
Read is accused of hitting her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022, and leaving him to die in a snowstorm 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 dragged outside.
Cannone will rule on the motion to dismiss ahead of Read’s retrial, which is scheduled to begin with jury selection on April 1.
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