Recap: Final hearing clears the way for jury selection to begin in Karen Read trial

Tuesday's final pretrial hearing ahead of the second Karen Read murder trial wrapped up around 1 p.m., with Judge Beverly Cannone all but confirming that jury selection will start on April 1.

"Allright, we'll see you on Tuesday," she said.

Just before adjourning the hearing, Cannone said she'll rule shortly on any outstanding motions, including a motion to dismiss and a prosecution motion requesting a buffer zone around the courtroom. She also noted that jury empanelment is likely to take some time, and there will be "plenty of time to tie up loose ends" during that process.

The judge also discussed the jury questionnaire and what the first couple of days of jury empanelment could look like with attorneys for both sides. She said 218 potential jurors have been summoned and she expects anywhere between 150-175 of them to show up on Tuesday.

Judge Beverly Cannone denied a prosecution motion Tuesday seeking to gain access to text messages between Karen Read and her attorney David Yannetti.

"I'm not going to give you this information, Mr. Brennan," she said to prosecutor Hank Brennan. "I don't think it's appropriate. Your motion is denied."

Brennan had sought to have a specific set of text messages between Read and Yannetti introduced at trial, arguing that they are no longer privileged because Read had spoken openly about them in interviews with Boston Magazine and Vanity Fair.

"Specifically what she intentionally divulged about liability and potentially striking John O'Keefe with her car," he said. "They're no longer privileged because they're now public."

But defense attorney Robert Alessi said the communications the prosecution is looking to introduce are indeed privileged. He also pointed out that the interviews in question are five and nine months old, respectively, but prosecutors waited until there were less than two weeks until the trial to bring their motion, which he described as "far reaching and consequential."

Brennan's next motion concerned a request for the court to grant the commonwealth access to materials from Unsolved Productions, the company that produced a docuseries about Read's case titled "A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read."

The prosecution is requesting all unedited video and audio recordings, arguing Read may have made conflicting statements that could be relevant to the case.

The defense said it was not aware of any communications between the commonwealth and the company and was not in a position to make any arguments on the production company's behalf.

Defense attorney David Yannetti spoke next, painting a different picture where they allege John O’Keefe entered Brian Albert’s home, and saying that Colin Albert Brian Albert and Brian Higgins were all there that night based on their own testimony in the first case.

More importantly, according to the defense, is that the law does not require the defense to prove the case against a third-party culprit, only to present a viable possibility.

He also argued that the third-party defense highlights potential bias by law enforcement, pointing to behavior by the police, including the lead investigator, former Trooper Michael Proctor, during the investigation.

Early into Tuesday's hearing, prosecutor Hank Brennan pushed back against allowing the defense's third-party culprit claim, arguing that the defense did not have strong enough arguments or evidence to present this type of defense before a jury.

The three men identified by the defense, Colin Albert, Brian Albert and Brian Higgins all testified about their whereabouts the night before O'Keefe was found dead in the first trial.

Arguing that two of the three potential culprits identified - Colin Albert and Brian Albert - had no history of animosity with John O'Keefe, Brennan said there was no specific evidence that made them relevant to the case.

O'Keefe was found outside Brian Albert's Canton home. But Brennan said that, despite defense claims, he's seen no evidence that O'Keefe ever entered Brian Albert's home on the night in question and even if he had, it's not clear Colin Albert was there at the same time.

Brennan then addressed the third option presented by the defense, Brian Higgins, who admitted during the first trial to exchanging flirtatious text messages with Karen Read. Brennan said that while those messages do outline a connection between Higgins, Read and O'Keefe, and Higgins testified to being at Brian Albert's home that night, it was not enough to make the logical connection that he had motive or opportunity to kill O'Keefe.