Judge Beverly Cannone’s “grave concern” about the behavior of Karen Read’s defense attorneys was addressed at a hearing Tuesday.
The Karen Read case was back in the courtroom with a motion hearing continuing after the presiding judge abruptly ended last week's proceedings due to new information she received from the Commonwealth.
Tuesday's hearing began at 11 a.m. in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham with Judge Beverly Cannone explaining that the issues prosecutors had raised as they try to keep the defense's crash reconstruction experts off the stand — allegations of improper conduct by Read's lawyers — "raise serious issues."
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At last week's hearing, special prosecutor Hank Brennan accused the defense of failing to disclose that those experts, from a firm called ARCCA, were paid $23,000 by the defense and had been collaborating with attorney Alan Jackson. He claimed the information was never revealed in the run-up to or during Read's first trial.
Defense attorney Robert Alessi, arguing Tuesday on behalf of the whole legal team, said the bill was paid after the trial but there was no prior financial arrangement. In fact, the defense was surprised by the invoice.
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"We’ve spoken to them only for the purposes of coordination of their testimony and their background," Alessi insisted.
But Brennan argued that, even after new disclosures from the defense, "there is a very unclear relationship as we stand here right now between the history of interaction between the defense and these ARCCA witnesses."
There was no decision on Tuesday, with lawyers set to return for up to three more days of arguments next week.
But Read's team could face trouble over their behavior involving the crash reconstruction experts, NBC10 Boston legal analyst Michael Coyne has said, and it's possible they could face disciplinary action. He said the most drastic "would be sanctions, either removing them from the case or limiting their involvement and perhaps referring them to disciplinary authorities."
On Tuesday's episode of "Canton Confidential," Coyne said Brennan "handled himself effectively," while Alessi "got a little deep into the weeds." He also pushed back on Alessi's argument that prosecutors had the chance to find out anything they wanted about conversations with the ARCCA experts during a legal vetting process called voir dire.
"I find that argument a bit specious. If they don't have the documents, if they don't have the information," Coyne said.
Meanwhile, a source told NBC10 Boston on Monday that the federal investigation into the handling of the Karen Read case has ended, and no charges are being filed against law enforcement.
That investigation played a significant role in the first trial against Read, who's been accused of killing her boyfriend Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, by hitting him with her SUV.
Crash reconstruction experts hired by federal prosecutors looking into how the case was handled came to a different conclusion, a theory that Read's lawyers were able to discuss in front of the jury. They couldn't come to a unanimous decision, leading to a mistrial this summer.
Read's retrial is due for April, with the continuation of a major court hearing — in which prosecutors are expected to discuss the defense's crash reconstruction experts — coming Tuesday.
