The trial date for the Karen Read murder case has been pushed back roughly five weeks to April 16, despite the judge’s previous aversion to moving the date.
The original trial date was scheduled for March 12, and both the defense and the prosecution pushed for extensions at the last hearing.
Their pleas for more time were heard at the 2 p.m. hearing Monday at Norfolk Superior Court, with Judge Beverly J. Cannone moving the previous date of March 12 back some five weeks to April 16 as well as setting deadlines for the flurry of motions activity the defense promises and the prosecution must respond to.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson said his team had just within the last 48 business hours received a tremendous lode of new evidence discovery, nearly 3,100 pages, that takes more than a gigabyte of space and there is no possible way his team could process the materials by the prior deadlines. He said that upon initial review, the new discovery that the Commonwealth forked over appears all-new and “largely exculpatory.”
“An April 16 trial is not realistic,” Jackson said.
Prosecutor Laura McClaughlin agreed that it was a lot of material and that extra time was warranted, but denied Jackson’s characterization of the material. She said that what prosecutors handed over was at least 90% in line with previous discovery releases, leaving just a tenth or less as all-new.
Jackson said that the defense would be filing new motions and supplemental materials arguing for a dismissal of the indictments against Read and sanctions against Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey.
Read is charged with the murder — as well as related but lesser charges — of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, her boyfriend of two years who both prosecutors and defense say largely co-habitated, in the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2022. The death followed a night out on the town with several others who met and drank at two Canton bars before agreeing to attend an after-party at the then-home of felow Boston Police Officer Brian Albert in Canton.
Prosecutors say Read struck O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV, leaving him to die in the cold as the weather became blizzard-like, outside the Albert residence at 34 Fairview Road.
The defense has launched a third-party culpability theory, arguing that they have evidence that O’Keefe had entered the home and was killed by others inside.
The often-contentious case is followed by ardent Read supporters and their leader, the blogger Aidan “Turtleboy” Kearney, 42, of Holden, who has covered the case to the near-exclusion of other topics since last year and aggressively promotes the defense theory. Kearney, who is in his own legal hot water as prosecutors say he has gone above his rights to journal the case and has both directly and encouraged his followers to harass state witnesses and law enforcement investigators in the case. He is indicted on charges including witness intimidation.
The “Free Karen Read” crowd assembled hours before the 2 p.m. hearing Monday in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, filling the sidewalk on either side of the street in front of the courthouse. Many who drove by would honk in support of their “Free Karen Read” signs, which would elicit loud hollers of support that could be heard deep inside the courthouse. The upper floor of the court was a mass of loud onlookers gaming for a seat in the court gallery.
When defendant Read entered the courtroom with her attorneys and family two minutes before 2 p.m., many of those seated in the gallery whooped and applauded. This was the last scheduled hearing date before the previously scheduled trial date and while every hearing is extremely well attended, the crowds Monday were unusually massive.
The hearing lasted some 20 minutes, but could have been much longer if the sides had been ready to argue some hefty motions on the table.
Not least was the defense’s motion for sanctions against Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey, primarily for his recorded statement throwing water at the defense’s third-party culpability theory and other arguments. It called for the dismissal of the indictments against Read.
Prosecutors filed a 49-page response last week.
The filing included a lengthy summary of the prosecution’s theory of timeline of events, with particular emphasis on technical analysis of the passenger-side rear area of the Lexus. It states that the taillight on that side was shattered and was missing pieces of its plastic housing. The car body around the taillight was scratched, the paint was chipped and there was a dent in the trunk door. Of further note was a hair which prosecutors allege was found in a rear quarter panel and “pieces of an apparent cocktail style glass” consistent with the one O’Keefe was known to be drinking from at a bar prior to the incident, “was also noted on the bumper.”
Prosecutors say that plastic pieces that match the Lexus’ taillight housing were found in the same area as O’Keefe’s body on the front lawn.
An analysis of Read’s blood at around 9 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, many hours after the night out at bars, was between 0.07% and 0.08% ethanol. A forensic toxicologist said that would have made her blood alcohol content to have been between 0.13% and 0.29% at around 12:45 a.m., the rough time of the alleged murder.
This is a developing story.
