Should Karen Read be making so many public statements while on trial?
From daily conversations with reporters outside court hearings, to national interviews, to her own documentary,
Karen Read
has been outspoken about her case. This has prompted many online who follow the case to comment, and ask – is that normal?
In the recently released Investigation Discovery documentary, "A Body in the Snow," Read said that speaking out was her testimony, her version of testifying.
When WBZ's Kristina Rex asked Karen Read why, in light of
a gag order that silences attorneys in the case
, she keeps speaking out, Read said, "I have nothing to hide. I'm anxious. I want everyone to know what I know. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. That's been our mantra for three years."
Experienced criminal defense attorneys tell WBZ that Read's willingness to comment publicly is extremely unusual - so unusual, in fact, that lawyer Eric Rosen was inspired to write
a blog post about making public statements during trial
, entitled, "Media Interviews by a Defendant: Bad Idea (in most cases)."
"Every defendant wants to get this story out and have it told," Rosen said. "Media interviews especially present a very short form version of what actually happened."
When asked what he tells clients who believe they should be able to speak because they are innocent, as Karen Read has said, Rosen replied, "Your story is going to change, no matter what happens, no matter how clear you are, memories get refreshed. Certain details come into focus later on. All of that, no matter how innocent you are, will come back to bite you later on, down down the line."
"I'm totally against it," added defense attorney of 50 years Phil Tracy. "I don't know, she may be seeking fame and fortune because this trial is costing her an enormous amount of money."
"I would never let her talk to the media. I think it might help a little, but it hurts more," he said.
Tracy specifically referenced a recent
Vanity Fair article in which he believes Read aligned herself with OJ Simpson
. "A lot of people who might be on the jury, or in the court of opinion, they think OJ was guilty. And he got away with murder! And now she's saying, 'I'm in the same boat,'" he explained.
The number one reason not to speak out while on trial, he said, is because it can backfire.
In fact, in Read's retrial, special prosecutor Hank Brennan has indicated in court appearances and filings that he plans to use Read's interviews as evidence in court of a changing story.
"Generally, when people think you have the right to remain silent that goes to when you're in a police investigation, if you're in a room at the police station, and you know it's what we see on TV," WBZ Legal Analyst Katherine Loftus explained. "Anything you say as a criminal defendant, anything you say to anyone, whether it's a police officer, whether it's a reporter, whether it's a civilian – anybody essentially outside of your attorney can and likely will be used against you."
Read has indicated in the past that she would like to testify, but that her attorneys will make the final call. She did not testify in her first trial.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Princess Charlene and Prince Albert's Twins Steal the Show as They Mark Major Royal Milestone
Twins Crown Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella recently turned the landmark age of 10 years old. The two have had many first lately, ranging from their first Holy Communion to a major royal milestone over the weekend. Jacques and Gabriella took part alongside their parents Princess Charlene and Prince Albert in a state visit with French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife, First Lady Brigitte Macron, on June turning the milestone age of 10 last December, twins Crown Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella of Monaco continue to achieve royal firsts—and accomplished another one this week alongside their parents Prince Albert and Princess Charlene. On June 7, the twins were on hand to welcome the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife Brigitte Macron for the Macrons' state visit to Monaco—the first time, per Hello!, that the royal children had taken part in a state visit. The Macrons sweetly chatted with Jacques and Gabriella, and Gabriella thoughtfully presented flowers to the First Lady upon her arrival. The French couple is in Monaco to bolster the 'strong ties' between France and Monaco, Hello! reported. For the occasion Saturday, Charlene understood the assignment and wore a mint Dior jacket and a pair of tan trousers, and later changed to a stunning red gown for a state dinner in the Throne Room of their palace in Monte Carlo. Per Vanity Fair, this was the first time that the royal family of Monaco hosted a state dinner with a French leader in more than 40 years. Though Jacques and Gabriella were present earlier in the day, they didn't attend the state dinner alongside their parents. When speaking to La Gazette de Monaco about which achievements he's been most proud of in his 20-year reign, Albert said, touchingly, 'What I am most proud of is my marriage and my children, first and foremost.' He also added to the Monaco Tribune that his twins 'help keep me young, too. They take some keeping up with.' Turning 10 and being a part of their first state visit aren't Jacques and Gabriella's only milestones lately. They also, per Tatler, recently took part in their first Holy Communion, a significant step for Catholic children like the twins. 'The conversations I have with Jacques and those with Gabriella are so different, as well as the time spent with them,' Charlene recently said. 'Gabriella is very curious. She is intrigued by the world and life in general.' As for her son, 'he is curious and observant, more reserved,' Charlene said. 'He is naturally very calm.' Charlene also admitted that it was 'difficult to find time to spend one-on-one' with the twosome, which she had found 'essential when you are the parent of twins.' Of the state visit over the weekend, the twins were mentioned for their significant milestone, with the royal family of Monaco writing on social media that 'Crown Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella were also present to greet the presidential couple, demonstrating the familial and solemn character of this official reception.' 'This meeting illustrates the continuity of a relationship based on shared values, mutual trust, and a shared willingness to build together answers to great contemporary challenges,' the post continued. Read the original article on InStyle
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Defense in Karen Read case accuses special prosecutor of misleading jury about damaged hoodie evidence
Karen Read defense attorney Robert Alessi moved for a mistrial again Monday over special prosecutor Hank Brennan's handling of John O'Keefe's hoodie during cross-examination of a defense expert witness. "Your honor, the defense moves for a mistrial with prejudice Based upon intentional misconduct that just occurred before the court and before the jury," Alessi said. He said the motion came in response to representations Brennan made while questioning Dr. Daniel Wolfe, a crash reconstructionist from a firm called ARCCA. Brennan, while cross-examining Wolfe about damage to O'Keefe's hoodie, showed him the actual piece of clothing, which had a series of holes in the back. Jury Skepticism Of Experts Could Determine Outcome In Karen Read Murder Trial: Former Judge Alessi contended that the holes were created by a criminologist during lab testing and that they did not exist when police took the sweatshirt. Read On The Fox News App Read is accused of killing her boyfriend O'Keefe, a Boston police officer, by clipping him with her 2021 Lexus LX 570 SUV on Jan. 29, 2022, and leaving him to die on the ground in a record-setting blizzard. Before jurors arrived, Judge Beverly Cannone heard motions regarding rebuttal testimony and to preclude or limit expert witnesses. WATCH: Karen Read defense moves for a mistrial again She said she would hold an additional evidentiary hearing to determine what Dr. Elizabeth Laposata, a Rhode Island forensic pathologist and professor at Brown University, can testify in front of jurors. David Yannetti, one of Read's defense lawyers, told the court that her legal team believes O'Keefe was "placed" on the ground near a flagpole outside 34 Fairview Road in Canton, Massachusetts. Laposata is expected to discuss O'Keefe's injuries and how and where he could have suffered them. The home is about 20 miles south of Boston. Read, O'Keefe and others went there for an after-party on Jan. 28, 2022. Dr. Daniel Wolfe, the reconstructionist from a firm called ARCCA, testified last week that damage to Read's SUV is inconsistent with the type of impact that prosecutors allege left O'Keefe dead early the following morning. 'Cannon' Test Boosts Karen Read's Defense, Showing Taillight Damage Consistent With Thrown Bar Glass GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE True Crime Hub But on cross-examination, he conceded that flying fragments of a taillight could have been the source of injuries to O'Keefe's face and nose before he suffered a fractured skull from what prosecution experts testified was a backward fall. Read has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, drunken driving manslaughter and leaving the scene. Follow The Fox True Crime Team On X Sign Up To Get The True Crime Newsletter Her defense maintains that her vehicle never struck O'Keefe and that his injuries were caused in some other manner after she left. Read could face life in prison if convicted of the top charge. Jurors deadlocked at her first trial last year on the same article source: Defense in Karen Read case accuses special prosecutor of misleading jury about damaged hoodie evidence
Fox News
6 hours ago
- Fox News
Cross-examination exposes gaps in defense expert's crash testing for Karen Read
Karen Read's legal team is nearing the end of the case for her defense with crash reconstruction expert Dr. Daniel Wolfe called to the stand Friday. Wolfe testified about a series of testing he performed that he said showed the damage to Read's SUV is "inconsistent" with the type of pedestrian strike that prosecutors say killed her former boyfriend John O'Keefe – and he instead found that the damage to her taillight could have been inflicted by throwing a cocktail glass at the car at a speed of at least 37 mph. But on cross-examination, he conceded that flying fragments of a taillight could have been the source of injuries to O'Keefe's face and nose before he suffered a fractured skull. As part of the prosecution's case, special prosecutor Hank Brennan played a clip of Read telling an interviewer she pulled a "piece of glass" out of O'Keefe's nose. Wolfe also admitted to having to "retake" part of his certification exams and that he used a crash dummy arm that is about 26% lighter than O'Keefe's real arm. He ultimately obtained his certification. "When you're bringing that much more kinetic energy from the vehicle, that's going to overcome any mass that that arm has," he said. "Kinetic energy is equal to one-half times the mass times the velocity squared, so even if you go up a few miles per hour, you're exponentially increasing that amount of kinetic energy from the vehicle." Wolfe denied that the weight difference in the dummy arm would have made an impact on the tests he performed, but he acknowledged that O'Keefe, who stood at 6 feet, 1 inch tall and weighed over 200 pounds, was larger than the crash dummy that is 5 feet, 9 inches tall and 170 pounds. WATCH: Crash expert plays video reconstruction of Lexus SUV on crash dummy There are crash dummy arms weighing around 12 pounds which would have been closer to the real weight of O'Keefe's arm, Wolfe agreed. Brennan questioned the validity of his testing overall and called out Wolfe for swapping out dummy arms and not mentioning that detail in his direct examination. "I'm asking for a third time, name one journal, one paper, one study that supports your proposition that you're relying on the basis for your opinion in front of this jury today," Brennan said. "Name one." "I did not cite any in my report," Wolfe replied. "No." "Can you think of one that you didn't cite?" Brennan followed up. "Not that I'm aware of, no," Wolfe said. Brennan grilled Wolfe about his use of the Signal app to share encrypted messages with the defense and about his inability to produce communications under a court order because his texts were deleted. Earlier, Wolfe played video for the jury that showed multiple recreations of an impact involving a 2021 Lexus LX 570 SUV and a crash dummy to simulate that alleged impact of Read's vehicle of the same make and model on O'Keefe, whom she is accused of killing in a drunken hit-and-run. In each simulation, at speeds ranging from 10 to 29 mph, the damage to the vehicle's taillight was "inconsistent" with that damage police recorded on Read's actual taillight. While most of the impacts shattered the outer lens, internal components that were destroyed in Read's vehicle remained intact in multiple test taillights. "Did you reach any opinions or conclusions as to whether the damage to the right rear tail light of the subject vehicle is consistent or inconsistent with an impact to a right arm during a high-speed reversing maneuver?" asked defense attorney Alan Jackson. "It was inconsistent," Wolfe replied. Wolfe also obtained sweatshirts that were the same brand and fabric blend of the one O'Keefe was wearing when he died. Notably, the impacts did not produce similar holes in the cloth. "Do you have an opinion or conclusion as to whether or not the damage that you saw to the hoodie related to John O'Keefe is consistent or inconsistent with an impact from a right rear taillight of the subject SUV?" Jackson asked. "It was inconsistent," Wolfe replied. "And what do you base that opinion on?" Jackson followed up. "Based upon all of the impact testing that we did with the closed ATD arm in the laboratory, as well as the field," Wolfe said, using an acronym that refers to the formal name for crash dummies -- Anthropomorphic Test Device. Judge Beverly Cannone called a midday lunch break around 12:40 p.m. Special prosecutor Hank Brennan was expected to kick off cross-examination when court resumes. Friday marks the 28th day of her retrial on murder and other charges in the death of her former boyfriend, a 46-year-old Boston police officer. Wolfe is the director of accident reconstruction at a firm called ARCCA. Earlier in his testimony, he said ARCCA designed a specialized "cannon" to simulate throwing a cocktail glass at Read's taillight and determined that similar damage could have been caused if someone threw the glass at around 31 mph and 37 mph. "From the 37 mile per hour test, we are getting damage that's generally consistent, and by that I mentioned we have portions of the outer lens missing, the underlying diffuser," he said. "There was also some fracturing on the backside of the assembly. So again we observed damage that was generally consistent with that of the subject taillight." Wolfe said he gave an opinion that the damage Read's SUV was generally consistent with someone throwing that drinking glass at at least 37 mph. In another ARCCA test, the reconstructionists wanted to see if an impact between the taillight and the back of O'Keefe's head could've caused his skull fracture. Wolfe said he tested at 15 mph. Damage to the test taillight was significantly more than Read's taillight at that speed – but it didn't generate enough force to cause a skull fracture. ARCCA obtained sweatshirts from the same company and of the same fabric blend as the one O'Keefe was wearing when he died and also simulated strikes to see if the fabric would puncture in the same way. At 10 and 17 mph, the taillight sustained different levels of damage but the fabric remained undamaged. Prosecutors accused Read, 45, of hitting O'Keefe with her 2021 Lexus SUV and driving away as he died on the ground with a skull fracture during a blizzard. Investigators recovered a broken cocktail glass and a black straw from the scene and found additional glass on Read's bumper. However, experts testified earlier at trial that the bar glass was not a match for the fragments found on her car. The defense denies that she struck him and has called witnesses who have attributed his injuries to other causes, including a dog bite and a potential fistfight with a man Read was flirting with behind his back. GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB Brennan unsuccessfully tried to have Wolfe and a colleague, Dr. Andrew Renstchler, blocked from testifying before the start of the trial. Wolfe testified during the first trial, which ended with a deadlocked jury, that damage to Read's SUV is inconsistent with a collision involving O'Keefe. Read told reporters outside court Wednesday that her defense could rest as soon as next Tuesday. There was no court on Thursday. She could face up to life in prison if convicted. Her first trial, in which the defense claimed she had been framed, ended with a deadlocked jury last year.
