Karen Read has taken her double-jeopardy challenge to toss the murder charge against her to federal court on the same day a lower-court judge said she has “grave concern” about the sensational case.
The federal filing came on the same day Read was at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham for a motions hearing that was supposed to include her team’s latest attempt to dismiss the case.
Instead, the hearing ended suddenly and dramatically, with Judge Beverly Cannone saying that the prosecution’s presentation on behavior with witnesses in the last trial may have “profound effects on this defense.” The sides will reconvene on Feb. 25.
“So, the Commonwealth just provided the Court with information that causes me grave concern. The implications of that information may have profound effects on this defense and defense counsel,” she said. “So, for that reason I’m going to suspend today so that when we meet again to address these issues, all affected will be appropriately prepared.”
Read, 44, is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence, and leaving the scene of an accident causing death. She’s accused of killing Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, her boyfriend of about two years at the time, on Jan. 29, 2022.
Federal filing
In the federal filing, Read is asking the court, to “Issue a writ of habeas corpus and rule that Ms. Read’s re-prosecution on Counts 1 and 3 would violate her Double Jeopardy rights.”
“I am claiming that my April 2025 retrial violates my federal Double Jeopardy rights,” Read writes in the federal petition.
Read has filed the petition against Norfolk County Superior Court and the Massachusetts Attorney General.
This comes after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued a decision last week, finding that Read’s pending retrial on the charges did not violate her rights against double jeopardy.
Read’s attorneys have been arguing that several jurors reached out after last year’s mistrial to say that they were only hung on Count 2, which is the OUI manslaughter charge, and were ready to acquit on the other charges. They say that no other juror has disputed this claim, and that to continue to try her on these charges would be double jeopardy.
“Re-prosecution is barred because there was no manifest necessity to declare a mistrial on counts on which the jury was not deadlocked,” Read’s federal petition reads.
“The jury’s unanimous conclusion following trial that Ms. Read is not guilty on Counts 1 and 3 constitutes an acquittal and precludes re-prosecution,” the petition states.
The Massachusetts Trial Court, Attorney General’s Office, and Norfolk DA’s Office declined to comment on Tuesday.
Motions hearing
At Norfolk Superior Court Tuesday morning, Read’s defense team and prosecutors from the Norfolk DA’s office wrangled over some motions, but the day’s schedule was curtailed following special prosecutor Hank Brennan’s allegations about the defense not sharing the extent of their interactions with two of their expert witnesses in the previous trial — including an alleged retainer payment of more than $23,000.
“That isn’t trial by ambush, that’s being duped,” Brennan said. “Sometimes parties pick sides.”
He said that there was extensive conversation between the defense, particularly defense attorney Alan Jackson, and two experts with ARCCA, LLC — Daniel Wolfe and Andrew Rentschler — who testified in the previous trial that O’Keefe could not have been struck by Read’s Lexus as the prosecution contends.
Brennan said that the defense told the prosecution that they did not prep with the witnesses but instead relied on their report first used in the federal inquiry into the Read investigation. He said that earlier this month, he found out that was not the case.
“I’m not saying that undermines the conclusions of ARCCA,” Brennan said, but it “certainly shows some bias.”
Jackson, walking through a media scrum, denied having paid the experts: “No, of course not,” he said.
Brennan at first said all of this was disclosed to him by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston but when he returned following a 20-minute recess, he said instead that the defense had in fact shared the information with him.
Retired Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Jack Lu told the Herald that the situation is “problematic” at first blush and could lead to repercussions for the defense, but he cautioned about rushing to judgment before Jackson and his team have a chance to respond at the next hearing.
If the allegations do have merit, Lu said the defense’s best bet would to have at the very least another member of the team, Yannetti for example, argue for Jackson’s supposed actions. Even better would be for Jackson to hire outside counsel to represent him on this matter, because Jackson is now in a situation in which his personal interests could clash with that of his client’s — a conflict of interest.
“Because of reciprocal discipline, any action taken here is a serious matter even if you are licensed in California and not Massachusetts,” Lu, who teaches at Boston College and UMass Lowell these days, said.
In other motions:
Brennan said he reached a deal to receive materials wanted from a Boston 25 interview with Read’s parents, to be delivered by March 1.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson argued to be given a “forensically sound” copy of Canton Police Department surveillance footage from when materials, including Read’s Lexus SUV, were brought there following O’Keefe’s death.
Third, Cannone requested that defense attorney David Yannetti file another affidavit in support of the team’s request to bring in New York City-based attorney Mark Bederow.
Brennan has heavy concern with this lawyer request because Bederow also represents Holden-based blogger Aidan Kearney, who has covered the Read case from a heavily pro-Read perspective and faces multiple counts of witness intimidation regarding witnesses in Read’s case.
The Case
Prosecutors allege that Read struck O’Keefe, a Boston Police officer who she had dated for roughly two years, with her Lexus SUV after a night of heavy drinking and left him to freeze and die on a Canton front yard in the early morning.
Read’s defense attorneys have countered throughout the case that Read has been framed by corrupt and incompetent local and state cops and prosecutors working with the owner of the home whose lawn O’Keefe was found. Defense attorneys say that O’Keefe made it into the home that night and was beaten to death inside.