Judge in Karen Read case bars references to Sandra Birchmore investigation ‘unless door is opened'
Judge Beverly J. Cannone scribbled onto the motion Wednesday, 'Allowed unless door is opened.'
Birchmore, a 23-year-old pregnant woman, was found dead in her Canton apartment in February 2021. Her death was
Federal prosecutors allege that the former detective, Matthew G. Farwell, killed Birchmore and staged her death to appear as a suicide.
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For more than three years after Birchmore was found dead, the Norfolk district attorney's office, State Police investigators, and the state medical examiner
The Norfolk district attorney's office is also prosecuting the case against Read, who is accused of backing her SUV into her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, in Canton and leaving him for dead during a blizzard in January 2022.
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Read's attorneys say she was framed and that O'Keefe entered the house, owned at the time by a fellow Boston officer, where he was fatally beaten and possibly mauled by a dog before his body was placed on the front lawn.
Read's first trial ended in a hung jury last year and the Norfolk district attorney's office is prosecuting her again.
In a February filing, Read's attorneys sought to access documents relating to the Birchmore investigation but were denied.
Material from previous Globe coverage was used in this report.
Nick Stoico can be reached at
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