The prosecution and Karen Read’s defense attorneys filed a joint motion Friday asking the judge to push back the start of the trial.
The prosecution and Karen Read's defense attorneys have not agreed on much, but they filed a joint motion Friday seeking to push back her murder trial.
The second-degree murder charges against Read for the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, two years ago in Canton, Massachusetts, have drawn national attention. The state alleges Read hit O'Keefe with her vehicle and left him for dead in the snow outside a home, while Read alleges she is being framed in a large-scale coverup.
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Friday's motion, filed by Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally and defense attorney David Yannetti, asks the court to move a hearing from Feb. 15 to March 12 — the date the trial was set to start. Yannetti said in a separate affidavit that Read was waiving her speedy trial rights to facilitate the change.
It was not immediately clear whether the motion had been approved by a judge.
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The motion stated that both sides took part in a conference call last month with the U.S. Attorney's Office for Massachusetts, which said it would produce information for both parties that has not yet been received
"Assuming this information is received prior to February 15, 2024, the parties will still need time to assess the information, to potentially conduct further investigation and to modify their arguments for the hearing on the defendant's motions. Given that the hearing date is only one week away, the parties believe there is not enough time to do the proper investigation and/or preparation for the motion hearing on that date," the joint motion read.
The coverup allegations — which prosecutors deny, as Read denies killing O'Keefe — have turned the case into among the most closely watched criminal proceedings in Massachusetts in years.
More on the Karen Read case
Read and O'Keefe were out drinking Jan. 28, 2022, with a group of people including Boston Police Officer Brian Albert. Members of the group went back to Albert's Fairview Road home, and Read says she dropped O'Keefe off there and went home. He was found the next morning and pronounced dead at a hospital.
Prosecutors allege Read hit O'Keefe with her SUV and left him to die. But Read's attorneys say evidence points to O'Keefe being attacked inside the home and brought outside, arguing, among other points, that the wounds on his body are not consistent with a crash.
The defense has also argued that Jennifer McCabe, who was in the group that went out and returned to Albert's home, Googled "ho[w] long to die in cold" hours before 911 was called to report O'Keefe had been found.
Read's claims have prompted arguments of what records should be available to her attorneys, and the case has divided the town of Canton, which voted for an independent audit of its police department.
Earlier this month, an affidavit from the Massachusetts State Police alleged that Read sent confidential information to Aidan Kearney — the blogger known as Turtleboy, who has long advocated on her behalf — in more than 40 hours of conversations during 189 phone calls and other methods of communication. She allegedly provided personal details about witnesses, autopsy photographs, crime scene photographs, images of her car and the 911 call made when O'Keefe's body was found.
Kearney's coverage of the case, which has garnered extensive attention, had previously led prosecutors to charge him with witness intimidation.
"Free Karen Read" merchandise with the Turtleboy logo remains available for sale on his site, and past stories have said proceeds go to a fund for Read's legal defense. In posts since the revelation, Kearney said he had not admitted publicly to communicating with Read because she "was an anonymous source."
His attorney, Timothy J. Bradl, said in a statement that the affidavit "is an investigation without a crime," adding that "The only crime here is the robbery of privacy."
Kearney' 's bail on the witness intimidation charges was revoked after he was charged with assault and battery following allegations from a woman he was dating.
