Karen Read’s defense team and prosecutors request retrial delay in joint motion

Karen Read’s defense team and prosecutors asked the presiding judge to push her retrial back three months, according to court documents filed Monday.

The joint motion filed in Norfolk Superior Court argued that moving the retrial from January to April will create a “more efficient” presentation of evidence.

“The joint request will allow both the Commonwealth and defense adequate time to prepare for trial, accommodate the schedule of new witnesses, including expert witnesses, will allow for the testing and disclosures by the experts timely before trial, and will result in a far more efficient and streamlined presentation of evidence by both parties,” the joint motion states.

Read’s first trial for the 2022 death of her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe began in April before ending with a hung jury in July. Read, 44, of Mansfield, is accused of ramming John O’Keefe, her Boston police officer boyfriend, with her SUV and leaving to die in a snowstorm outside of the Canton home of former Boston police officer Brian Albert in January 2022.

Prosecutors have alleged Read and O’Keefe had been drinking heavily before she dropped him off at a party at the home of Brian Albert, a fellow officer. They said she struck him with her SUV before driving away.

Read has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of personal injury and death.

The defense has portrayed Read as a scapegoat, saying O’Keefe was actually killed inside Albert’s home and then dragged outside and left for dead.

Read is also involved in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by O’Keefe’s family in Plymouth Superior Court. A judge has said Read wont be deposed in that civil trial until the conclusion of the criminal case.

Read the full joint motion below:

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