Karen Read appears in court as judge hears pre-retrial motions in her murder case

DEDHAM, Mass. — Karen Read, the woman accused in the murder of her Boston police officer boyfriend, appeared in court on Wednesday for a pre-retrial hearing, one day after her lawyers filed a new motion, pushed back on a request from the prosecution to view her dad’s phone records.

BATTLE OVER BILL READ’S PHONE RECORDS

In a 27-page filing obtained Tuesday by Boston 25, Read’s legal team said it plans to fight the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office motion to view calls and texts made by Bill Read 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 their 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.

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Karen Read

Multiple motions in addition to the one involving Bill Read were filed by both sides in the leadup to Tuesday’s hearing.

WILL THE RETRIAL BE DELAYED?

The defense and prosecution asked to push Read’s retrial back three months from Jan. 27 to some time in April. Judge Cannone said she is still going on a January timeline for the second trial even though both sides want a delay.

TRANSCRIPTS WILL BE SHARED

Read’s lawyers have 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 sidebars from the first trial but that they can’t be released to the public.

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.

The SJC is 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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