There continues to be intense public scrutiny surrounding the murder trial of Karen Read, who is accused of killing her police officer boyfriend in 2022, and attorneys on both sides are making their last-minute preparations with the trial set to start in days.
Jury selection starts in Read’s case on April 16 but before that, Judge Beverly Cannone is set to take up nearly 40 motions Friday from prosecutors and the defense - many of them not unexpected in a trial like this one.
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“She probably will I think decide them by Tuesday, but she probably has a little bit of leeway until the jury is actually impaneled,” Attorney Katherine Loftus said.
Read is charged with second-degree murder in the death of John O'Keefe, her Boston police officer boyfriend, who was found unresponsive outside a Canton home on Jan. 29, 2022. Prosecutors say she hit O'Keefe with her SUV, while Read and her attorneys say she is being framed amid a massive coverup.
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The next big step will be getting a jury impaneled. Some expect as many as 150 potential jurors will be brought to the Dedham courthouse each day. Legal analyst Michael Coyne says seating a jury won’t be easy.
“With what the court has in front of them in selecting an unbiased jury is going to be extraordinarily difficult,” Coyne said.
Newly released court documents may indicate how the defense plans to poke holes in the state’s case at trial, claiming the grand jury was misled while investigators lied about the involvement of certain witnesses - raising reasonable doubt without presenting an alternate theory of the murder. This information came to light after the release of the defense's argument that Read's indictment should be thrown out — a motion Cannone has already denied. With the case going to trial, it's likely that argument will be repurposed.
“I think the defendant will likely try what we call a reasonable doubt defense. They are going to poke holes in the government’s case.” Coyne said.
Loftus doesn’t think Read should take the stand in her own defense.
” I think there are a lot of conflicting statements, and I think if she were to go on the stand, I do not think it will help her,” Loftus said.
The judge will take up those remaining motions Friday morning.
