Two Karen Read demonstrators didn't flout buffer zone order, while third person did, judge rules

Boston Globe

23-05-2025

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Cannone said demonstrators are 'also prohibited from using audio-enhancing devices while protesting,' to ensure jurors and trial participants felt no outside influence amid the proceedings in the courtroom.
Doolin's Wednesday ruling concerned three demonstrators: Thomas Derosier, Jason Grant, and Erica Walsh.
Derosier, Doolin wrote, was moved from an area across the street from the courthouse after he'd been ''peacefully filming'' the building's exterior.
Grant was barred from standing across the street while holding an American flag and a sign displaying a Bible verse that said in part, 'WHERE THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS, THERE IS FREEDOM,' Doolin wrote.
There is also a provision in Cannone's order, Doolin noted, that says the buffer zone restrictions don't apply to 'quiet, offsite demonstrations on public property' that don't interfere in any way with the Read case.
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And for that reason, Doolin said, Derosier and Grant didn't violate the order with their conduct.
Doolin said the fact that Derosier was filming the courthouse but not any Read jurors or witnesses, wasn't 'by itself' an effort to hinder the Read proceedings.
'Nothing before the court suggests that Derosier was being noisy, let alone protesting, demonstrating, or interfering with anyone or anything at all,' Doolin wrote.
Doolin said Grant's conduct was a 'closer question,' particularly the sign with the freedom verse, 'in the context of the Read trial,' where her supporters have vocally called for authorities to ''free' the defendant.'
In addition, the judge said, Grant's chosen location to demonstrate was 'ill-advised' since he was close to the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds which houses, among other things, grand jurors and 'the jury pool.'
'Neveretheless, assuming that Grant was not on courthouse property but within the buffer zone, the court finds no violation of the Buffer Zone Order because the record does not show that he was acting in a manner suggesting that he was intending to interfere with the administration of justice or influence a trial participant,' Doolin wrote.
The judge said Walsh, however, was on the wrong side of Cannone's order when she was arrested for trespassing for standing across the street from the courthouse wearing a sweatshirt that said 'criminals control Norfolk County,' a reference to allegations among Read supporters that law enforcement framed her in a coverup.
'Because in this specific context, where Walsh was standing in close proximity to the courthouse, within the line of sight of trial participants, while wearing a visible message criticizing participants from Norfolk County, including law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and the court itself, Walsh's conduct was directed toward' interfering with the case, Doolin wrote. 'Thus, contrary to Walsh's argument, the officer's actions pursuant to the Buffer Zone Order did not violate her First Amendment rights.'
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Read, 45, has pleaded not guilty to charges including second-degree murder for allegedly backing her SUV into her boyfriend,
Her lawyers say she was framed and that O'Keefe entered the house, owned at the time by a fellow Boston police officer, where he was fatally beaten and possibly mauled by a dog before his body was planted on the front lawn.
Read's first trial ended with a hung jury in July, and her retrial is ongoing, with testimony suspended Thursday and Friday of this week.
Testimony resumes Tuesday following the holiday weekend.
Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at