Feds charge grand juror in Karen Read investigation with leaking information
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Leslie is accused of
Officials did not disclose that Leslie was sitting on
Attorney Keith Halpern, who represents Leslie, declined to comment Tuesday. She has been charged in an 'information,' a federal charging document that signals that a plea agreement has been reached. A change-of-plea hearing has yet to be scheduled.
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Read, 45, was acquitted of second-degree murder, manslaughter by drunk driving, and leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death. She was convicted of a charge of operating under the influence, a misdemeanor. That was the lone charge available to the jury that did not involve them finding that Read struck her boyfriend, O'Keefe, with a car. It was the second trial for Read after another jury ended with a mistrial a year ago.
Prosecutors alleged Read drunkenly and intentionally backed her SUV into O'Keefe outside the Canton home of Boston Police Officer Brian Albert after a night of bar-hopping and left him to die in a blizzard on Jan. 29, 2022.
Her lawyers said she was framed and that O'Keefe entered the home where he was fatally beaten and possibly mauled by Albert's German shepherd, Chloe, before his body was dumped on the front lawn.
In a highly unusual move, the US attorney's office convened a grand jury to investigate the state's handling of Read's murder prosecution before the case went to trial. While federal grand jury proceedings are, by law, secret, details of the probe into the Norfolk district attorney's prosecution of Read spilled into public view during state court proceedings.
Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey wrote letters to the Justice Department in 2023 raising concerns about 'the unprecedented use of federal power to interfere with a state homicide investigation,' according to court filings.
Federal authorities
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The federal crash reconstruction report was among some 3,000 pages of documents, including grand jury statements by witnesses, that the US attorney's office turned over to Read's lawyers and state prosecutors prior to her first trial.
The US attorney's office and the FBI declined to comment on the federal investigation. However, it was disclosed during state court proceedings in Read's case that all of the people who were inside Albert's home around the time of O'Keefe's death were subpoenaed to testify before the federal grand jury.
In March, state prosecutors revealed during pretrial proceedings in Read's murder case that the federal grand jury investigation into the state's handling of her case was closed.
Until now, federal prosecutors have not pursued any charges related to the Read case.
Shelley Murphy can be reached at
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