Crime

Turtleboy blogger freed from jail, pleads not guilty to new witness intimidation, wiretapping charges

Aidan Kearney was met with raucous cheers as he exited Norfolk Superior Court Friday afternoon following roughly two months in jail.

February 23, 2024

2 minutes to read

Jailed for nearly two months, Turtleboy blogger Aidan Kearney is free once more after a judge on Friday ordered his release and declined to set additional bail conditions following his arraignment on new witness intimidation and wiretapping charges.

The polarizing blogger exited Norfolk Superior Court to raucous cheers from a crowd of his supporters, taking selfies and doling out handshakes and fist bumps like a quarterback after the winning game.

Minutes earlier, Judge Debra Squires-Lee ordered Kearney’s release on personal recognizance after Kearney pleaded not guilty to witness intimidation and wiretapping charges in connection with an alleged altercation he had with an ex-girlfriend back in December.

The 42-year-old Holden man is also facing a slew of witness intimidation charges tied to his controversial coverage of the Karen Read murder case. A judge revoked Kearney’s bail in December after the blogger allegedly assaulted the former girlfriend when she received a summons to appear before a grand jury in connection with his alleged witness intimidation.

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Speaking in court Friday, special prosecutor Robert Novack alleged that Kearney threatened to “destroy [the former girlfriend] in front of her kids,” recorded a conversation with the woman without her knowledge or permission, then published an altered version of the recording online.

Novack requested $10,000 cash bail, GPS monitoring, and orders for Kearney to stay away from his alleged victims. He asserted that Kearney has a “proclivity” for engaging in witness intimidation.

But Tim Bradl, Kearney’s attorney, said the proposed bail conditions would limit the blogger’s ability to continue covering the Read case.

“Here you have a journalist who was practicing his craft and is protected by the First Amendment,” Bradl said of his client.

Bradl also alleged that the former girlfriend invited Kearney over to her home on the night in question, “And like a moth to a flame, like a journalist to a new set of facts,” he went. Yet Kearney “absolutely denies [the allegations], 100%,” Bradl said.

While Squires-Lee declined to set conditions for Kearney’s release, she issued a stern warning to the defendant.

“Mr. Kearney should be reminded … that if he is charged with any additional crime, … certainly there will be another revocation period,” the judge said. Kearney is due back in court on April 23 for a pretrial hearing.

Special prosecutor Kenneth Mello — who has publicly spearheaded the prosecution against Kearney thus far — declined to comment on Kearney’s new indictment Friday. He and Novack, a Fall River attorney, are working together on Kearney’s cases and were sworn in as special assistant district attorneys simultaneously, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Kearney’s popularity skyrocketed over the last year after he became the face of the “Free Karen Read” movement. Read, 43, of Mansfield, is accused of backing her SUV into her boyfriend — Boston police officer John O’Keefe — while dropping him off at a home in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022. Prosecutors allege that Read left O’Keefe to die in a blizzard that night, but Read’s lawyers say she’s the target of a coverup, and that O’Keefe was actually beaten inside the home and attacked by the family’s dog.

Kearney has blogged prolifically about the case, promoting the defense team’s coverup claims and filming his own tense confrontations with witnesses in Read’s case. He was initially charged with witness intimidation, picketing witnesses, and conspiracy to intimidate a witness last October.

More recently, authorities alleged that Kearney and Read were in close communication behind the scenes, with Read slipping the blogger non-public case information.