As second Karen Read trial begins, legal experts expect new approach from prosecutors

Boston Globe

31-03-2025

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Now, more than three years after O'Keefe's snow-covered body was found near the road outside a Canton home,
As a second trial gets underway with jury selection on Tuesday, legal experts say they expect the prosecution will bring a tighter and more direct presentation of the evidence, cutting through twists and turns the case took the first time.
'Sometimes if cases go on and on, jurors lose track of what the most important issues are, and they might think there's reasonable doubt just because there was so much evidence introduced,' said Michael Cassidy, a Boston College law professor. 'The shorter and leaner the case can be is sometimes the more persuasive.'
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Special prosecutor Hank Brennan,
'Mr. Lally, in my opinion, is an old-style 'just the facts' prosecutor, a la the old 'Dragnet'
police TV show,' said retired Superior Court judge Jack Lu. 'This is a style that is good because the prosecutor is a public official, unlike the defense lawyer. Mr. Brennan may take the battle to the defense more.'
Brennan has filed a flurry of motions in recent months and sought communications Read had with one of her lawyers and
A couple of new attorneys have also joined Read's defense team, including Victoria Brophey George, who
Another new addition is Robert Alessi, a New York-based litigator who in pretrial hearings has delivered lengthy arguments vouching for or disputing the credentials of proposed expert witnesses. He also spoke for the defense team during a tense hearing in February when
Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone listened during a pretrial hearing in the Karen Read case on Feb. 25 in Dedham.
Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger
Last summer, after jurors said they were at an impasse after 30 hours of deliberations over whether Read was criminally responsible for O'Keefe's death, Cannone declared a mistrial. Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey swiftly declared his office would retry Read.
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Read, 45, a former financial analyst and professor from Mansfield, is accused of hitting O'Keefe with her car in January 2022 after a night of heavy drinking that led to an argument, and then leaving him in the cold to die.
Her defense team has sought to show that O'Keefe was actually beaten and possibly attacked by a dog before being left to die by people at a party at the Canton home of a fellow Boston police officer. Her lawyers allege she is being scapegoated in a massive law enforcement coverup.
A protester's shadow was cast on a Karen Read banner during a rally where the groups Free Karen Read, Justice for Sandra Birchmore, and Justice for Juston Root protested together outside of the Norfolk district attorney's office in Canton on Nov. 13.
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
In the days leading up to the second trial, attorneys for both sides have argued over whether a
'It will really depend on how she rules on' the third-party culprit defense, 'whether the prosecutor is able to eliminate some of the evidence that the defense wants to put on about relationships between people in that house and the victim,' Cassidy said.
Read's attorneys have made multiple attempts to stop the second trial. They've argued that a
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The defense's arguments to nix a second trial stemmed from revelations made by jurors last summer after the first trial ended, when
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Read's attorneys argued that Cannone improperly declared a mistrial because jurors acquitted Read of the two counts. Thus, they said, she should not face a second trial on those charges.
But in his order dismissing their claims, US District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV wrote that he saw 'no basis to conclude that the trial judge's decision to declare a mistrial was incorrect or improper.'
Developments outside the courtroom have also continued to affect the case.
Earlier this month, State Police fired Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator on Read's case. Proctor had been
Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor faced a tough cross examination by defense attorney Alan Jackson during Karen Read's first trial on June 12.
Greg Derr/Pool
Cassidy said he expects prosecutors will try to avoid putting Proctor back on the stand or limit the scope of their questions. Both defense attorneys and prosecutors listed Proctor as a prospective witness.
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'I don't think there's any way to avoid the fact that Proctor's fingerprints were all over that case, and he was the lead agent, and he was fired,' he said. 'The question is how much the prosecutor relies on his testimony. If I were the prosecutor, I would try to prove the case without Proctor.'
Jack Carney (right) of Canton, waved to honking drivers in Dedham on July 14. With their signs and flags, Karen Read supporters continued their dedication to her on a sidewalk along Providence Highway in Dedham after her mistrial.
Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
Whether the second trial will draw the same public attention as the first remains to be seen, but Read's case continues to grab headlines daily both from local and national media outlets. The
'It may be that the public thirst for information on this case has kind of been satiated,' Cassidy said. 'They've seen it, they've done it, they've got the T-shirt. It might be that people don't stand outside the courtroom or stand in line to get in. ... It's possible, and there are so many things going on in our world right now that are commanding our attention.'
A Karen Read supporter wore a T-shirt featuring Read and her attorneys Alan Jackson (left) and David Yannetti on June 28.
John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
Nick Stoico can be reached at