Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, left, and Karen Read, his girlfriend who has been charged with murder in his 2022 death in Canton, Massachusetts.
As the second trial against Karen Read gets underway, there's a lot to keep in mind — from the hours before John O'Keefe's death three years ago to the firing of the Massachusetts State Police trooper who led the investigation this March.
Read stood trial last year, charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene of a crash causing the death of O'Keefe, her boyfriend and an officer in the Boston Police Department. Prosecutors say she hit him with her SUV and left him to die in the snow, while she has claimed she's being framed in a wide-ranging coverup.
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The first trial ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury — though even that is in dispute, as some jurors came forward and said there was unanimous agreement that she was not guilty on two of the counts, leading to an appeal all the way to the Supreme Court. The Norfolk County District Attorney's Office is retrying the case.
Here's a look at some important dates and times in the case.
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Jan. 28, 2022: A gathering in Canton
Evening: Read and O'Keefe go out drinking on a Friday night in Canton, first at C.F. McCarthy's bar, then at Waterfall Bar & Grille. Among those they meet are fellow Boston Police Officer Brian Albert; his sister-in-law, Jennifer McCabe; and ATF agent Brian Higgins. New England is beginning to experience a major winter storm with heavy snowfall and blizzard-like conditions.
Jan. 29, 2022: John O'Keefe dies
12 a.m.: Members of the group leave the bar and go to Albert's home on Fairview Road. Read and O'Keefe leave in Read's black Lexus SUV.
12:15-12:45 a.m.: Multiple witnesses recall a dark SUV pulling up to the home around 12:15. McCabe says she sees the vehicle pull up around 12:30 a.m. and sit there for about 15 minutes, but that no one comes inside and the vehicle leaves around 12:45 a.m. According to the defense, she has been texting with O'Keefe, and the last four texts, sent between 12:31 a.m. and 12:45 a.m., go unanswered.
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12:36 a.m.: Read leaves the first of eight voicemails on O'Keefe's phone, saying, "John, I f------ hate you!" Massachusetts State Police Trooper Nicholas Guarino, a forensics expert for the prosecution, testified that her phone indicated she connected to wi-fi at O'Keefe's house at this time.
12:59-1:18 a.m.: Read tells O'Keefe in one voicemail, "John, I'm here with your f------ kids. Nobody knows where the f--- you are, you f------ pervert." In another, she screams she is with his niece and nephew (the kids she was referring to — he'd taken them in after their parents' deaths) repeating that he is a pervert. She then tells him in another, "You're f------ another girl ... you're a f------ loser, f--- yourself!"
1.30 a.m.: When McCabe and other witnesses leave the Albert home, they say the SUV is gone, and none report seeing O'Keefe.
2:27 a.m.: The defense alleges that phone records show McCabe searched "hos long to die in cold" at this time. (The spelling is "hos" in the search.) This would have been more than three hours before O'Keefe was found in the snow. Prosecutors have disputed this timeline, and McCabe later testified that she searched the phrase at 6:23 a.m., after O'Keefe was found, at Read's request.
4:53 a.m.: Read and O'Keefe's 14-year-old niece each contact McCabe, saying O'Keefe did not return home and they were unable to reach him by phone, according to a police report.
5 a.m.: Kerry Roberts picks up McCabe and Read to look for O'Keefe.
6 a.m.: The group finds O'Keefe unresponsive in the snow outside Albert's house.
As police investigate the scene throughout the day, officers find a broken drinking glass, consistent with one O'Keefe had been seen holding, and drops of blood — which are collected as evidence in red Solo cups, according to prosecutors and testimony from responding police.
7:59 a.m.: O'Keefe is pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital.
6 p.m.: Massachusetts State Police recover three pieces of plastic consistent with Read's taillight. According to testimony from Lt. Kevin O'Hara, six or seven pieces are found in the snow, as well as O'Keefe's sneaker — after the scene is left unsecured for hours.
Investigation and prosecution of Karen Read
Feb. 1, 2022: Read is arrested on charges of manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide and leaving the scene of a deadly crash. Her attorney, David Yannetti, calls the charges "a tremendous reach" in court the following day.
Feb. 4, 2022: Kenneth Berkowitz, then the chief of the Canton Police Department, finds more apparent pieces of the taillight in the vicinity of the Fairview Road home. Massachusetts State Police respond and secure the evidence.
June 9, 2022: The Norfolk County District Attorney's Office announces that a grand jury has indicted Read on a second-degree murder charge. In court the next day, Yannetti alludes to several notions that would become central to her defense, including claims that O'Keefe's injuries were not consistent with a vehicle crash and that the lead state police investigator, later identified as Michael Proctor, had a conflict of interest. Prosecutors request $500,000 bail, but the judge sets it at $100,000 and Read posts it.
Sept. 22, 2022: Read's defense goes further, alleging in court that evidence shows O'Keefe was severely beaten and that Brian Albert has ties to the Canton Police Department and Massachusetts State Police, which her attorneys say colluded in a large-scale cover-up. (Authorities have long denied a cover-up.)
April 12, 2023: Read's attorneys publicly release court documents they say contain "bombshell exculpatory information," including the allegation that McCabe searched "hos long to die in cold" hours before O'Keefe was found, as well as photos of Proctor with members of the Albert family.
Aug. 25, 2023: Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey takes the unusual step of issuing a video statement outside of court. He condemns "the harassment of witnesses" as "baseless" and disputes several of the defense's claims. "Conspiracy theories are not evidence," he says in the video.
Oct. 11, 2023: Aidan Kearney — the blogger better known as "Turtleboy," who had posted, at this point, over 100 articles about the story, sold "Free Karen Read" merchandise with the "Turtleboy" logo, and raised money for Read's legal defense fund — is arrested on charges of witness intimidation and conspiracy. Kearney has proclaimed his innocence on these charges and others later brought against him.
Nov. 20, 2023: Residents of the divided community vote 903-800 to audit the Canton Police Department over the case. The results of this audit would eventually be released April 1, 2025, the same day jury selection began in the retrial.
Dec. 20, 2023: Kearney is indicted on 16 new charges, including eight counts of witness intimidation, three counts of conspiracy to intimidate witnesses and five counts of picketing a witness.
Dec. 26, 2023: Kearney returns to court to face new charges of assault and battery and witness intimidation, stemming from allegations that he pushed a woman he was dating. His bail is revoked and he is sent to jail.
Jan. 18, 2024: Read's attorneys seek the release of private communications between the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office and federal investigators the defense says is targeting District Attorney Michael Morrissey in a probe — a characterization commonwealth prosecutors dispute. A letter from Morrissey to the U.S. Department of Justice, later released by Morrissey's office, shows he called for a federal examination into the investigation of his office by the U.S. Attorney's Office for Massachusetts. That letter, dated May 18, 2023 — one day after U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins announced her resignation following a monthslong abuse-of-power investigation — alleges that Rollins, who "made no secret of her personal animosity" toward Morrissey, weaponized her office against him.
Jan. 31, 2024: A state police affidavit reveals Read allegedly fed confidential information to Kearney in 189 phone calls lasting over 40 hours, as well as by other means. Kearney's attorney says in a statement, "The only crime here is the robbery of privacy." On his website, Kearney writes, "Turtleboy does not reveal sources. However, there is nothing wrong or criminal about seeking out people close to Karen Read in order to write a story about her."
Feb. 22, 2024: Prosecutors unveil long-awaited results of crime scene evidence tests, alleging that O'Keefe's DNA was recovered from the broken taillight of Read's vehicle. New court documents also outline the commonwealth's claims of a strained relationship between Read and O'Keefe in the weeks leading up to his death.
Feb. 23, 2024: Kearney is released from jail but faces new charges for allegedly harassing a witness and intercepting wire or oral communication. Prosecutors say he threatened the woman whose allegations prompted the assault and battery case against him, "saying that, if she didn't cooperate, he would destroy her in front of her kids by publishing old probate court records that he had acquired."
Feb. 26, 2024: Judge Beverly Cannone delays the start of the trial from March 12 to April 16 after federal prosecutors release over 3,000 pages of new evidence.
March 13-14, 2024: Massachusetts State Police confirm Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the case against Read, is the subject of "an internal investigation into a potential violation of department policy." Sources later confirm to NBC10 Boston the investigation is in connection to the Read case.
April 4, 2024: Cannone agrees to establish a 200-foot buffer zone to keep protests away from the courthouse. Prosecutors sought a 500-foot buffer zone, while protesters argued the move would violate their First Amendment rights and appealed, though the appeals process eventually upholds the 200-foot buffer.
April 10, 2024: Over 100 pages of documents are unsealed following a request from The Boston Globe, shedding light on Read's attorneys' argument that prosecutors "deceived" the grand jury that indicted her.
The first trial
April 16, 2024: Read's first trial begins with jury selection.
April 29, 2024: Prosecutors and Read's defense team make opening statements, and the commonwealth calls its first witnesses, O'Keefe's brother and sister-in-law.
April 30, 2024: Under cross-examination, Canton Police Officer Steven Saraf defends the fact that law enforcement did not investigate inside Albert's home or speak immediately with the homeowners after O'Keefe's body was found.
May 3, 2024: Jurors take a trip to the Fairview Road home where O'Keefe was found and the Waterfall Bar and Grill.
May 7, 2024: The defense grills Canton Police Lt. Michael Lank about his prior connections with Albert family members, the collection of bloody snow in red Solo cups, and the use of a grocery bag to hold evidence. He acknowledges that McCabe was present when he interviewed Brian Albert and his wife, Nicole, and vice versa.
May 9, 2024: Brian Albert's brother, Chris Albert — who was at the Waterfall with the group before O'Keefe's death — acknowledges in testimony that he had known lead investigator Michael Proctor for about 15 years. Chris' wife, Julie, testifies that she regularly talks to Proctor's sister, Courtney. Canton police officers previously explained that Massachusetts State Police took the case over to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest because another Albert brother, Kevin, is on the town's force.
May 10-13, 2024: Brian Albert takes the stand on a Friday and returns Monday for cross-examination by Read's defense. He testifies that it is a coincidence that he upgraded his phone just a day before a court order that it be preserved. When asked if he and his friend Brian Higgins — an ATF agent who was at Waterfall and at Albert's home that night — had agreed to get rid of their phones, he says he doesn't recall. He also explains a call to Higgins at 2:22 a.m. as "kind of like a butt dial" that happened while his phone was on his bed between him and his wife, Nicole. That call lasted a second, and another was sent from Higgins to Albert 17 seconds later and lasted 22 seconds, though Albert denies answering it.
May 14, 2024: Julie Nagel, a friend of Brian Albert Jr. who was at the house, testifies that she saw a black SUV similar to the one Read drives outside the home that morning, and a "black blob" in the front yard when she left around 1:45 a.m. Defense attorney David Yannetti asks if she thought what she saw was a body or a person in trouble, she says she did not.
May 16, 2024: Colin Albert — the son of Chris and Julie — is cross-examined after being called by the commonwealth the previous day. He acknowledges knowing Michael Proctor "since I was a little kid" and says the only police interview he had about the case was with the trooper in the summer of 2023. He is grilled about a photo taken less than a month after O'Keefe's death showing cuts to his hand, which he says came from a fall on ice. He says he has never been in a fight, and the defense shows videos from years earlier in which he threatens violence, which he explains as a spat between groups of friends over girls.
May 17-22, 2024: Jennifer McCabe — sister of Nicole Albert — testifies on a Friday that she made the now-infamous "hos long to die in cold" search on her phone at Read's request after they found O'Keefe. "She grabbed my hands and she said, 'Google hypothermia, Google how long it takes to die in the cold,'" McCabe says on the stand. Cross-examining her the following Tuesday and Wednesday, the defense maintains that the search was made at 2:27 a.m., while McCabe remains adamant that it was later. "I did not make that search at that time," she says. "I never would have left John O'Keefe out in the cold to die because he was my friend that I loved."
May 24-28, 2024: ATF agent Brian Higgins testifies on a Friday, with the defense's cross-examination beginning that day and concluding when court resumes the following Tuesday. He goes over a series of flirtatious messages he exchanged with Read and recalls that she kissed him when both were at O'Keefe's house on Jan. 16, 2022, nearly two weeks before O'Keefe's death. He says he was one of the first people to leave the gathering at Albert's house on the morning of Jan. 29, going to his office at the Canton Police Department to move his ATF vehicles to a different area of the parking lot so it could be plowed. Higgins claims, as Brian Albert did, that the two did not speak during two calls between the two after 2 a.m. Read's attorneys grill him for the destruction and disposal of his phone's SIM card in a dumpster at a military base, which he acknowledges made it impossible to access texts he exchanged with key witnesses in the case.
June 5-10, 2024: Trooper Yuriy Bukhenik — supervisor to lead investigator Michael Proctor — delivers parts of three days of testimony. He says he and Proctor noticed the rear right taillight of Read's SUV was damaged when they went to her parents' Dighton home to interview her on the day of O'Keefe's death. He says they seized her phone and SUV. He also notes that video shown in court of Read's SUV at the Canton Police Department's sallyport is inverted — the integrity of this footage has been questioned by the defense ever since. Pressed by the defense, he acknowledges that the video is under six minutes despite timestamps covering 17 minutes, which he attributes to motion triggering the storage of footage.
June 10-12, 2024: The prosecution calls Proctor — then the subject of an internal investigation by the state police — to the stand, and he quickly becomes a focal point of the trial. He reads a series of inappropriate text messages he sent to colleagues, supervisors, family members and friends while investigating O'Keefe's death. Among those texts, he told fellow members of the Massachusetts State Police he had found "no nudes so far" when going through Read's phone; he told his sister, Courtney Proctor, "hopefully she kills herself;" he made disparaging remarks about Read's medical condition; and he responded to a friend's suggestion that the owner of the property where O'Keefe was found would be scrutinized with "Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop too." Proctor says his texts had "absolutely zero impact on this investigation." He also downplays his prior relationship with the Albert family. The defense asks him about sharing the identity of witnesses he was going to interview with Kevin Albert — Brian's brother, whose employment by the Canton Police Department is the reason state police took over the investigation. Proctor testifies about a night that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking together. "Found your badge in my cruiser this morning," Proctor texted him.
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June 14, 2024: Jessica Hyde, a cellphone data expert called by the prosecution, testifies that it is difficult to say exactly when Jennifer McCabe's phone searched "hos long to die in cold," and that 2:27 a.m. is the time the tab was opened, not necessarily when the search was made. Under cross-examination, she says it's unlikely the search was made at that time, but she can't rule it out.
June 17-20, 2024: Massachusetts State Police forensics expert Trooper Nicholas Guarino discusses messages from Read's and O'Keefe's phones revealing they had been fighting over the state of their relationship, with an exchange from the day before O'Keefe's death indicating they had a fight earlier that morning. She texted him at 12:55 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, "I'm going home," "See u later," then at 1:02, "Your kids are [expletive] ALONE." He testifies about eight voicemails Read left on O'Keefe's phone between 12:36 a.m. and 6:08 a.m. — right after his body was found. "John, I f------ hate you!" she said in the first voicemail, with others calling him a "f------ pervert," telling him she is there with his niece and nephew and "Nobody knows where the f--- you are."
June 21, 2024: The prosecution rests its case. The defense calls plow driver Brian Loughran, who says he did not see a body on Albert's lawn when he drove by around 2:45 a.m., and that he saw a Ford Edge parked in front of the home when he passed by again between 3:15 a.m. and 3:20 a.m. Forensic pathologist Dr. Marie Russell, called as an expert on dog bites, testifies that she believes the injuries to O'Keefe's arm were caused by an animal's teeth or claws, not by a vehicle.
June 24, 2024: Retired medical examiner and forensic pathologist Dr. Frank Sheridan testifies that O'Keefe's wounds are not consistent with being struck by a vehicle, saying, "it doesn't look remotely like that at all." Two accident reconstruction experts with ARCCA — Dr. Daniel Michael Wolfe and Dr. Andrew Rentschler — also testify that the damage to Read's vehicle and the nature of O'Keefe's injuries do not suggest she fatally hit him. Both Wolfe and Rentschler testify that the defense has not paid them — an issue that prosecutors would raise before the second trial. The defense rests its case.
June 25, 2024: Both sides make their closing arguments, and Judge Beverly Cannone puts the case in jurors' hands.
June 28, 2024: On the fourth day of deliberations — a Friday — the jury submits a note explaining that it cannot reach a unanimous verdict. Cannone orders jurors to continue discussing the case that has been heard for two months and featured 74 witnesses.
July 1, 2024: With jurors still unable to reach a verdict Monday, Cannone declares a mistrial. Prosecutors quickly announce their intent to retry the case. Hours later, the Massachusetts State Police announce Michael Proctor has been relieved of duty and transferred out of the detective's unit of the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office.
Between the two trials: appeals, internal affairs investigations and more
July 8, 2024: Two major updates come one week after the mistrial declaration: First, Karen Read moves to dismiss the charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a crash causing death, citing jurors who have told the defense they had unanimously concluded she was not guilty of either charge. Her attorneys argue prosecuting her again on the counts would constitute double jeopardy. Then, Michael Proctor is suspended without pay after a duty status hearing, with the Massachusetts State Police continuing its internal affairs investigation into the trooper.
July 9, 2024: The Canton Select Board announces that Canton Police Officer Kevin Albert — Brian's brother, whose badge Michael Proctor said in a text he found in his car after a night of drinking — was placed on paid administrative leave June 13, after Proctor's testimony. The Alberts' brother, Chris — a member of the select board — apologizes at the meeting for "two recent verbal altercations" in the public eye.
July 23, 2024: Massachusetts State Police announce internal affairs investigations into Det. Lt. Brian Tully and Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik — both of whom testified in the Read trial — and Lt. John Fanning. The same day, state police say the investigation into Fanning has been "closed" after it was determined that the allegations against him were unfounded. Michael Proctor had testified that Bukhenik and Fanning, both supervisors, were on the text chain in which he said he had found "no nudes so far" while going through Read's phone.
Aug. 2, 2024: The Norfolk County District Attorney's Office sends a Brady letter to 13 criminal defense attorneys in four cases, disclosing that Michael Proctor — involved in each investigation — is under investigation and has been suspended without pay. Prosecutors acknowledge that at the Read trial, Proctor "was subject to cross-examination relating to alleged conflicts of interest."
Aug. 23, 2024: Judge Beverly Cannone denies Read's motion to dismiss the charges of murder and leaving the scene, writing in her ruling, "the defendant was not acquitted."
Aug. 26, 2024: Paul O'Keefe files a wrongful death lawsuit in civil court against Read, Waterfall Bar & Grill and C.F. McCarthy's — the two Canton bars that were among the last places his brother, John, was seen alive.
Sept. 11, 2024: Read files an appeal with Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court over Cannone's ruling denying her motion to dismiss two charges against her.
Sept. 18, 2024 The Norfolk County District Attorney's Office taps defense attorney Hank Brennan as a special assistant to lead Read's prosecution in the retrial.
Sept. 19, 2024: The NBC10 Boston Investigators learn that the brief Massachusetts State Police internal investigation into Lt. John Fanning ended because the department established he was on a family vacation the week Proctor sent the texts in question. Fanning said he didn't notice the messages at the time and only learned about them when Proctor testified, according to state police.
Sept. 23, 2024: State police announce Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik, who supervised Proctor, is disciplined by forfeiture of five vacation days for failing to "properly supervise and/or counsel a subordinate for sending inappropriate correspondence regarding an ongoing investigation." Separately, the Canton Police Department announces that Det. Kevin Albert — suspended with pay since June — faces a three-day suspension without pay.
Oct. 17, 2024: Aidan Kearney's defense team alleges that Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey lied about evidence and improperly communicated by personal email — something Kearney tells NBC10 Boston the following day Morrissey did "on purpose so that it wouldn't come up in public records searches."
Oct. 18, 2024: On the same day a special on Read airs on NBC's "Dateline," Massachusetts State Police announce that Det. Lt. Brian Tully — who led the detective unit at the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office and has been the subject of an internal investigation — has been transferred out, with Col. Geoffrey Noble saying the move "is in the best interest of the Department's public safety mission." The announcement comes after Kearney's attorney tells The Boston Globe that Tully searched and extracted data from at least one of Kearney's phones despite the commonwealth claiming otherwise.
Oct. 23, 2024: A Read supporter, 65-year-old Richard Schiffer Jr., is charged with witness intimidation, harassment and littering for allegedly placing rubber ducks on the properties of people connected to the investigation.
Nov. 1, 2024: Judge William White rules that Read will not be deposed in the civil case from O'Keefe's family until the conclusion of her second criminal trial.
Nov. 19, 2024: State police announce the end of the internal investigation into Brian Tully and say he must forfeit six days of accrued leave after being found to have violated department rules and regulations. He's found to have failed to supervise or discipline unit members "who were involved with inappropriate text messages relative to an ongoing homicide investigation."
Nov. 29, 2024: Judge Beverly Cannone denies prosecutors' request for phone records between Read and her parents on the night of O'Keefe's death.
Dec. 5, 2024: Cannone grants prosecutors' request for access to off-the-record interviews, notes and other documents involving conversations Read had with Boston Magazine reporter Gretchen Voss, as well as for recordings and notes from TV station WFXT's interviews with Read's mother, father and brother.
Dec. 9, 2024: Cannone approves a joint motion from the defense and prosecution to move the start of the trial from Jan. 27 to April 1. Separately, Judge Brian Walsh dismisses felony witness intimidation and harassment charges against Richard Schiffer Jr., who admitted to placing yellow rubber ducks around town in support of Read.
Jan. 6, 2025: Massachusetts State Police conclude their internal affairs investigation into Michael Proctor, putting the matter before a state police trial board.
Feb. 6, 2025: Cannone denies prosecutors' request to exclude testimony from defense expert Richard Green on the "hos long to die in cold" search. After the district attorney's office characterizes his testimony as "debunked opinions," Cannone rules that "it's rather a difference of opinions that need to be resolved by the jury."
Feb. 11, 2025: The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules that the charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death should not be dismissed, upholding the lower court's decision. "Can posttrial accounts of jurors' private deliberations that are inconsistent with their public communications in court render the declaration of a mistrial improper, or constitute an acquittal, where the jury did not announce or record a verdict in open court? We conclude that they cannot," the decision reads.
Feb. 18, 2025: A motions hearing abruptly ends as Cannone expresses "grave concern" over information submitted by prosecutors seeking to keep two ARCCA crash reconstruction experts who testified for the defense in the first trial off the stand in the second. Special Prosecutor Hank Brennan says the state and the court weren't given full disclosure about the experts, and that the commonwealth was never told during the first trial that the defense was paying the experts $23,000 and collaborating with them on their testimony. Dr. Daniel Michael Wolfe and Dr. Andrew Rentschler both testified last year that the defense had not paid them.
Feb. 24, 2025: The federal investigation into the handling of the investigation ends without any charges being brought against law enforcement, a source tells NBC10 Boston.
Feb. 26, 2025: Read files a motion to dismiss the case, citing "Extraordinary Governmental Misconduct," under impoundment, meaning the defense's allegations against prosecutors are not publicly available. Released with redactions the following day, it highlights the defense's argument that prosecutors suppressed surveillance footage from the sallyport at the Canton Police Department.
March 4, 2025: Without going into further detail, Canton Police Chief Helena Rafferty says the U.S. Attorney's Office has told her "ALL ASPECTS" of the federal investigation "have been completed." Prosecutors request a gag order for Read's attorneys, accusing them of "ongoing, deliberate, purposeful poisoning of the potential jury pool." In an interview with NBC10 Boston, paramedic Ronald Estanislao — a juror in the first trial — echoes the defense's claim, argued before the Supreme Judicial Court, that jurors had reached unanimous agreement that Read was not guilty of second-degree murder or leaving the scene of a crash causing death. "Unfortunately, we didn't get clarification early on that we could look at each charge individually and independently of each other," Estanislao says. "If we had done that, then I don't know where we would be or if we would be talking today."
March 5, 2025: Attorneys for Read bring their double jeopardy argument to federal court.
March 7, 2025: Following the prosecution's request, Cannone issues a gag order preventing lawyers in the case from sharing information that might sway potential jurors or prejudice the trial. The gag order does not apply to Read herself.
March 13, 2025: Federal Judge Dennis Saylor declines to intervene after Massachusetts' highest court denies her bid to have two charges dismissed.
March 17, 2025: As prosecutors seek to keep ARCCA experts from testifying, they suggest Read's defense "instigated the now-closed federal investigation and actively participated in providing selective information and materials to the United States Attorney's Office to attempt to propel and shape the federal investigation."
March 18, 2025: Despite finding that Read's lawyers repeatedly and deliberately misrepresented their relationship with the ARCCA experts who testified last year, Cannone says they can testify again in the retrial and declines to sanction the defense — a move that could have included the removal of attorneys from the case.
March 19, 2025: After three separate days of closed trial board hearings between January and March, the Massachusetts State Police fire Michael Proctor, saying the trial board found him guilty of three charges of unsatisfactory performance and one charge of alcoholic beverage.
March 21, 2025: Read files a petition in federal court to delay the start of her new trial. The petition is later denied.
March 25, 2025: Cannone denies the defense's motion to dismiss all charges due to prosecutorial misconduct.
March 26, 2025: The protest buffer zone that surrounded Norfolk Superior Court for the first trial is reestablished and expanded to include an area marked by Bates Court, Bullard Street, Ames Street and Court Street. The decision prompts a federal lawsuit from protesters. Read's defense adds a new attorney who is quite familiar with the case: Victoria George, who served as an alternate juror in the first trial.
March 27, 2025: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirms the U.S. District Court's decision not to change the start date of her retrial.
March 31, 2025: On the eve of jury selection, Cannone rules that the defense can't call former FBI Agent Michael Easter to testify about what policies police didn't follow. She also decides Read will be allowed to use a third-party culprit defense, but not in reference to Colin Albert — the defense may only argue Brian Albert and Brian Higgins may be responsible for O'Keefe's death.
Second trial gets underway, despite Supreme Court appeal
April 1, 2025: Jury selection in Read's second trial begins. On the same day, the full report on the audit of the Canton Police Department is released.
April 3, 2025: Read appeals to the Supreme Court, bringing her double jeopardy claim to the highest court in the country.
April 9, 2025: The Supreme Court declines Read's request to stop the retrial from getting underway while it weighs her appeal on double jeopardy, which it will consider on April 25. It may take longer for the decision to be released, the court says.
April 15, 2025: After 10 days in court are spent screening more than 500 people, a full jury is seated, including 12 jurors and six alternates.
April 22, 2025: Opening statements get underway, with prosecutors saying Read's own words will show she is responsible for O'Keefe's death as her defense points to Michael Proctor, calling the defendant "the victim of a botched and biased investigation" and the commonwealth's case "the definition of reasonable doubt." The first witnesses are called to the stand, with Kerry Roberts testifying about the moment Read found O'Keefe's body in the snow. Outside Norfolk Superior Court, 42-year-old Bao Nguyen of Arlington is arrested for allegedly filming inside the protest buffer zone.
April 23, 2025: Roberts returns to the stand as Read's defense grills her about inconsistencies from past testimony. O'Keefe's mother, Peggy, delivers emotional testimony about learning her son had died
