What to expect from Alan Jackson in Karen Read's second trial

CBS News

3 days ago

The Karen Read trial has garnered national attention, and one of the key figures in the case is defense attorney Alan Jackson. Here's what to know about Read's high-profile lead attorney as the prosecution has rested its case and the defense took over.
The prosecution in Read's second trial rested on Thursday, handing the case over to the defense team made up of Jackson, David Yannetti, Bob Alessi and Elizabeth Little.
Who is Alan Jackson?
Jackson is a criminal defense attorney from the law firm Werksman Jackson & Quinn. A biography on the firm's website describes Jackson as "one of the country's most sought-after criminal defense attorneys."
According to the firm, Jackson has tried more than 85 cases to a jury verdict, and has a 96% success rate.
Jackson was the lead prosecutor for the Los Angeles Count District Attorney's office during the case against music producer Phil Spector, who was convicted of killing actress Lana Clarkson.
"His client list reads like a who's who of Hollywood celebrities, NBA stars, billionaire CEOs, and foreign dignitaries—all turning to him for 'must-win' cases," Jackson's biography reads.
Karen Read's lawyer Alan Jackson
Prosecutors accuse Read of hitting and killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, with her SUV after a night of drinking and leaving him to die in the snow. When Read was first arrested, her only attorney was Yannetti.
In the recently released HBO documentary "A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read," Yannetti, Read and Jackson discussed how the defense team expanded. Yannetti said it became clear the case was going to require a lot of work.
Read said in the documentary that she called the Harvard Law School Criminal Justice Institute. A professor told her to look into actor Kevin Spacey's case on Nantucket, where he was accused of groping an 18-year-old.
Jackson represented Spacey, and the felony charge of indecent assault and battery was eventually dropped. Read said she looked into the case, and that was how she learned about Jackson's work.
"I got an email and the subject line of the email with something along the lines of 'Murder of a Boston Cop.' I took one look at the autopsy photos of John O'Keefe, and I saw his arm, and I said, 'Are you kidding me? He was hit by a car?'" Jackson recounted in the documentary. Read's attorneys have argued that injuries to O'Keefe's arm were caused by a dog during the alleged fight.
With Jackson added to Read's defense team, the case began to garner national attention.
Karen Read and attorney Alan Jackson look at the empty jury box while listening to Judge Cannone during Read's murder trial in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Wednesday, May 21, 2025.
Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool
What to expect from Alan Jackson
WBZ-TV legal analyst Katherine Loftus noted that compared to Read's first trial, Jackson took a bit of a back seat during the prosecution's case in the retrial.
Alessi, not Jackson, cross-examined several key witnesses. That included the medical examiner and several forensic experts.
Loftus said she believes that will change during the defense's case, which Read told reporters will take 1.5 to 2 weeks compared to just two days the first time.
"I think [Alan Jackson] is probably going to take the majority of the defense case," Loftus said. "They really have two potential ways they can go. We might know right off the bat as soon as we see who the first witness is whether they are going to go with what they did trial No. 1, which was this framing, third party, point the fingers. Or if they're really going to focus on the police, Michael Proctor, conflict of interest, substandard, you can't find her guilty."
Karen Read trial
Jackson and Read's legal team have not been allowed to speak publicly about the case since March 7. That's when Cannone approved a gag order in the case, applying to all attorneys from both sides.
As a result, Read has served as a de facto spokesperson throughout her second trial. Regularly when court ends for the day, Read speaks to reporters while leaving Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham with her legal team.
Inside the courtroom, Jackson has had several fiery exchanges with witnesses.
In Read's first trial, Jackson had contentious exchanges with Brian Albert, Brian Higgins, Colin Albert, and Jennifer McCabe. Read's defense has argued these are some of the people at the center of an alleged attempt to frame Read for O'Keefe's death.
Jackson has also clashed with Judge Beverly Cannone on several occasions since joining the case. During a March 2025 hearing ahead of Read's second trial, Cannone accused Jackson of making "repeated misrepresentations to the court."
The judge met with Read and her attorneys privately during the hearing. Cannone decided not to revoke Jackson's credential to practice in Massachusetts, which he is required to have because he is an out-of-state lawyer.
After that hearing, WBZ-TV's Kristina Rex asked Read outside court how she felt about her attorneys staying on the case.
"Amazing. Amazing," Read said. "There's no other attorneys I'd rather have than my attorneys."