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Karen Read hearing abruptly ends as judge expresses ‘grave concern’
Judge Beverly Cannone abruptly halted Tuesday's hearing following discussion about prosecutors' motion to exclude testimony from two crash reconstructionists.
1 p.m. update: Judge Beverly Cannone abruptly halted Karen Read’s motions hearing Tuesday after calling an unexpected recess, saying new information from prosecutors gave her “grave concern.”
“The commonwealth just provided the court with information that causes me grave concern,” Cannone said following the break. “The implications of that information may have profound effects on this defense and defense counsel. So for that reason, I’m going to suspend today so that when we meet again to address these issues, all affected will be appropriately prepared.”
Just prior to the recess, special prosecutor Hank Brennan had argued a motion to bar Read’s lawyers from calling as witnesses two crash reconstructionists hired by federal authorities to look into John O’Keefe’s death. Brennan pointed to correspondence between the experts from ARCCA Inc. and the defense, including a bill ARCCA allegedly sent Read’s team for $23,925.
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“The commonwealth, as I understand it, was not aware of any promised rewards or inducements or payment,” Brennan said. “They relied on a reciprocal discovery order of this court for that information.”
Elsewhere in the correspondence, according to Brennan, Daniel Wolfe, ARCCA’s director of accident reconstruction, praised defense attorney Alan Jackson’s questioning during a voir dire hearing. In another instance, Wolfe allegedly wrote, “if you don’t want me to say this, that’s fine.”
“That’s not trial by ambush. That’s getting duped,” Brennan said.
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He added: “I don’t care if the ARCCA witnesses testify at trial. I don’t care about their opinions. But I care that it’s unfair, imbalanced, and hidden.”
The hearing will resume at 11 a.m. on Feb. 25.
Separately, Read filed a habeas corpus claim in U.S. District Court in Boston Tuesday and asked a federal judge to toss two of her charges. Last week, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declined to dismiss both counts after Read’s lawyers argued jurors in her first trial unofficially agreed to acquit her of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
Read’s lawyers say a retrial on all charges will violate her double jeopardy protections.
Livestream via NBC 10 WJAR.
The countdown is on to Karen Read’s retrial as both sides return to Norfolk Superior Court for a motions hearing Tuesday.
Read, 44, is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence, and leaving the scene of a fatal accident in the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. Prosecutors allege Read backed her SUV into O’Keefe in a drunken rage while dropping him off at a fellow police officer’s home in Canton early on Jan. 29, 2022.
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Yet Read’s lawyers contend she was a “convenient outsider” framed in a law enforcement coverup. They’ve floated an alternate theory that O’Keefe entered the home for an afterparty and was severely beaten, attacked by the family’s dog, and dumped outside in the snow.
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Tuesday’s hearing will touch on evidentiary motions, per a scheduling order Judge Beverly Cannone issued last week. Read’s lawyers are seeking a “forensically sound” copy of surveillance footage from the Canton Police Department the day O’Keefe died, and they’ve asked Cannone to exclude testimony from the prosecution’s canine behavior expert witness.
The defense is also asking for unredacted documents from the investigation into Sandra Birchmore‘s 2021 death in Canton, and for access to Read’s and O’Keefe’s SUVs and O’Keefe’s driveway for an independent analysis. They contend Read damaged her taillight backing into O’Keefe’s SUV as she left his home in a panic to search for him the morning of Jan. 29.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, have requested recordings, notes, and written statements from Read’s recent interviews with Boston 25 News’s Ted Daniel. They’re also attempting to block Read’s lawyers from calling as witnesses a pair of crash reconstructionists federal authorities hired to look into O’Keefe’s death.
Read’s first trial ended with a hung jury last July. Her second trial is due to begin April 1.
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