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One of Turtleboy blogger’s witness intimidation cases dropped after DA stuck without prosecutor
Aidan Kearney still faces other criminal charges in connection with his coverage of Karen Read’s murder case.
Stuck in limbo after the sole remaining prosecutor withdrew last month, the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office has dropped one of its witness intimidation cases against Turtleboy blogger Aidan Kearney.
The indictment also charged the blogger with wiretapping in connection with an alleged altercation he had with an ex-girlfriend, Lindsey Gaetani, back in December 2023. Special prosecutor Robert Cosgrove withdrew from the case after Gaetani named him in response to a defamation suit Kearney filed against her in Worcester County.
“This case was flawed from the inception and never should have been brought,” defense attorney Mark Bederow said in a statement. “The red flags regarding the credibility of the witnesses, uncorroborated allegations and troubling evidence that this was a set up between people who despise Mr. Kearney and the direct role of the prosecutor himself, should have resulted in better discretion from the prosecution.”
Previously:
Judge Michael Doolin previously disqualified another special prosecutor, Ken Mello, after he determined Mello’s communications with Gaetani made him a potential witness. Following Cosgrove’s departure, Doolin gave Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey 30 days to find a new prosecutor for the controversial, high-profile case.
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But with that deadline fast approaching, Morrissey instead opted to file a nolle prosequi — essentially, a legal notice stating prosecutors have declined to continue the case. Kearney still faces two other witness intimidation indictments in connection with his coverage of the Karen Read murder case. He was previously acquitted of violating a restraining order taken out by Gaetani.
“The remaining two dockets against Adian [sic] Kearney continue to be prosecuted by Special Prosecutor Robert Cosgrove,” the DA’s office said via email. A copy of Wednesday’s notice states the nolle prosequi filing was necessary for “the interest of justice.”
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A polarizing local media figure, Kearney shot to national prominence with his prolific coverage of Read’s case. The Massachusetts woman was acquitted in June of murder and manslaughter charges in the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, and Kearney was a vocal advocate for the defense team’s theory that Read was framed in a law enforcement conspiracy.
Prosecutors initially charged Kearney in 2023 and accused him of intimidating witnesses in the case through his confrontational reporting tactics, which included rolling rallies and livestreamed encounters. However, Kearney and his lawyers maintain the blogger’s actions were protected under the First Amendment, turning his criminal cases into a free speech battleground.
“That would be two down, two cases to go,” defense attorney Tim Bradl said following Wednesday’s nolle prosequi. “These cases should have never been brought, and are outrageous expressions of unlawful viewpoint discrimination and a perversion of the first amendment.”
Gaetani, meanwhile, said she was “incensed” upon learning Morrissey had dropped the charges against Kearney rather than appoint another special prosecutor. She sharply criticized both Morrissey and Massachusetts State Police Detective Lt. Brian Tully, an investigator on the case, asserting Morrissey “was in no position” to decide the nolle prosequi.
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“As a result, I am calling for an independent investigation by the Attorney General’s office to determine what, if any, efforts were made to comply with the court’s order before these charges were dropped,” Gaetani said in an emailed statement. “The special prosecutor process in Massachusetts is fundamentally broken, and today’s decision is a battle cry for reform.”
Despite the dropped charges, Bederow noted Kearney still suffered “real harm” when he had his bail revoked in December 2023 and spent roughly two months in jail based on the “completely unvetted and incredible allegations.” Bederow said it was “surreal” that prosecutors did not drop their case until Gaetani took legal action against authorities.
He also asserted similar conflicts exist in Kearney’s original 2023 witness intimidation indictment, which is subject to a pending motion to dismiss.
Bradl added: “We expect the remaining matters to meet the same fate, whether through the district attorney filing additional writs of nolle prosequi due to further obvious conflicts of interest, or through a jury verdict of acquittal.”
Kearney celebrated the dropped charges on social media Wednesday, writing, “The wins keep coming, and there’s only a few more to go before my nightmare is over.”
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“I spent 60 days in jail over charges that the government knew were completely fabricated from a Christmas Eve 2023 non-incident, which is why they finally dropped those charges today,” he added in a statement to Boston.com. “We look forward to the remaining charges, which are on life support, being adjudicated via dismissal or acquittal at trial.”
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