DEDHAM – It was a day of heated arguments and legal maneuvering in Norfolk Superior Court as the Karen Read case returned, with both prosecution and defense teams attempting to shape Read’s upcoming 2nd degree murder trial.
Judge Beverly Cannone was forced to intervene in one disagreement between Special Prosecutor Hank Brennan and defense attorney Alan Jackson, warning both sides to “take the personal attacks completely out of this.”
Jackson accused Brennan of misstatements. “It’s important to get some of the facts right. You gotta get some of them right,” Jackson said to Brennan.
Brennan responded, “before accusing somebody of getting it wrong, the person accusing should be right.”
The core of the dispute centered on the nature of John O’Keefe’s relationship with Karen Read. Brennan asserted that O’Keefe was attempting to break up with Read right before O’Keefe was killed and he wants to introduce that at trial as motive.
“We know from the statements that there was a tumult in that relationship… he was in the course of attempting to end the relationship with Ms. Read,” Brennan said.
The claim was vehemently rejected by the defense, with Jackson calling it “preposterous.” He stated, “Both of these individuals were not tethered to each other in a way that if one wanted to break up with the other one, one was going to murder the other. "
Read is accused of fatally striking O’Keefe with her SUV in Canton during a January 2022 snowstorm. The defense plans to call two crash reconstruction experts from the engineering firm ARCCA who testified in the first trial.
Defense attorney David Yannetti argued that the jury should be informed that the ARCCA experts were initially hired for the now-closed federal investigation. Yannetti stated, “We’re just asking that court that ARCCA should be allowed to testify that they were hired by the federal government to prevent speculation about who hired them or why they became involved in the case.”
Brennan has accused the defense of using the federal investigation as a smokescreen.
Worcester-based blogger Aidan Kearney, known as Turtleboy, was called in connection with Read’s case. Brennan is seeking Kearney’s phone records, alleging collusion with Read to intimidate witnesses. Kearney’s lawyer, Tim Bradl, countered, “The fact that they communicated cannot be basis for a criminal investigation.”
Judge Cannone did not immediately rule on most of the issues raised. However, she reiterated her intention to begin jury selection on April 1st. She also directed the defense to provide “concrete evidence” that others are responsible for O’Keefe’s death before she considers allowing that argument to be presented at trial.
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