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Karen Read murder trial judge hears requests from prosecution and defense

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Karen Read murder trial judge hears requests from prosecution and defense

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

DEDHAM — A judge heard a joint motion from prosecutors and the defense team for a retrial Karen Read It will be postponed to April upon recommendation.

To read A Mansfield woman accused of killing a Boston police officer her boyfriend, Braintree native John O’Keefe.

Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial in the case in July. The second trial is scheduled to begin on January 27, 2025. The court confirmed last month: Cannone will oversee Read’s second trial.

Cannone heard numerous motions submitted by both the defense and prosecution at the hearing Wednesday. The prosecution included Special Assistant District Attorney Hank Brennan and Assistant District Attorneys Adam Lally and Laura McLaughlin, while Read was represented by Alan Jackson, David Yannetti and Elizabeth Little.

Why do they want Read’s retrial to be postponed?

The prosecution and defense filed a joint motion in Norfolk Superior Court earlier this month requesting that the trial be postponed until April 1, 2025.

Brennan said he has been working to get up to speed since being assigned to the case in September, but there is still work to be done. He said postponing the hearing would make it “more efficient and effective” and would be “in the interest of justice.”

He said additional work by experts would take some time and that he did not want lawyers to be in a position to share reports and expert testimony while the trial had already begun.

“I want to avoid defensive injustice and prosecutorial injustice at all costs,” he said.

Yannetti acknowledged this and said it wasn’t fair to Read if discovery wasn’t completed well before the hearing. Discovery is the formal process of exchanging information between parties about witnesses and the evidence they will present at trial.

He said it was in the interest of both parties to have the case tried “expeditiously” but that justice was more important.

“He will not be able to have a fair trial at the end of January,” he said.

Will the auto expert do more testing on Read’s Lexus SUV?

The prosecution requested further testing of the telematics system of the defendant’s Lexus SUV, where they said the vehicle’s precise locations would be determined.

The digital forensic expert who will perform the testing, Shanon Burgess, “felt that important data was likely not obtained during the chip-off procedure,” Brennan said.

Jackson said the defense did not object to additional testing, but argued that the information about Burgess’s data chips was “fundamentally misunderstood,” which gave the defense “pause.”

“We are concerned that no matter what he does, some data may be destroyed,” he said.

Jackson requested that the defense’s expert witness be included in the testing.

The Daubert hearing, which will determine whether an expert’s testimony is admissible, will be held at 9 a.m. on December 12.

The defense requests the prosecutor’s phone records; Prosecutor’s Office requests phone records from Read’s father

The defense this week filed several separate requests from Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey, including one seeking personal emails and cellphone data.

The defense argues in its motion that Read may have used Morrissey’s personal email and cellphone to contact Stoughton District Court staff and judges while his case was previously in court.

Brennan filed a petition seeking William Read’s phone records from the night O’Keefe died.

In a response motion, Read’s attorneys called the request a “fishing expedition” and said prosecutors already had recordings of telephone conversations between Kareen Read and her father.

Cannone did not hear those motions, called Rule 17 motions, on Wednesday. A hearing on the motions is scheduled for 10 a.m. Nov. 26.

Cannone rules on two motions after hearing

Cannone ruled on two motions hours after the hearing.

He ruled that a new prosecution expert be allowed to reassemble and test the electronic parts in Read’s SUV. Cannone gave Read’s defense five days to name its own expert to be present during the testing.

Cannone also ordered that sidebar conferences on evidentiary matters in the trial be transcribed and made available to attorneys and the court.

Read was charged with second-degree murder

After O’Keefe’s body was found outside the Canton home of a fellow Boston police officer during a snowstorm on Jan. 29, 2022, Read was charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and personal injury and leaving the scene of death while operating while intoxicated. . Prosecutors say Read was drunk and angry when he deliberately hit himself. But Read’s defense attorneys say Read is charged with O’Keefe’s death.

Read is also charged with involuntary manslaughter while driving drunk and leaving the scene of personal injury and death. Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey recently announced that he had appointed Special Assistant District Attorney Hank Brennan to lead Read’s retrial.

(This story has been updated to add photos.)

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