31-01-2025
Watch Live: Karen Read case hearing to consider off-the-record interview notes and other pre-trial motions
DEDHAM - The Karen Read case returns to court today for a hearing to consider several pre-trial motions, including whether a journalist's off-the-record notes and recordings can be used at her retrial.
You can watch Friday's hearing at Norfolk Superior Court live on CBS News Boston and in the video player above.
Judge Beverly Cannone in December ruled that prosecutors can have access to the reporter's unedited recordings and notes for a Boston Magazine interview with Read in 2023, as well as an interview her parents William and Janet did with WFXT. A similar effort by the prosecution at Read's first trial was denied "on narrow grounds," the judge said.
Special Prosecutor Hank Brennan has said he'll use the evidence to show how Read's story has changed over time, and claims the interview materials suggest admissions of wrongdoing.
Other topics expected to be considered on Friday include a motion to exclude a digital expert witness from the defense from testifying about Jen McCabe's"hos long to die in cold" Google search, and a bid from Read's legal team to get the state to reimburse a defense expert for more than $12,000 in travel expenses.
3 years since John O'Keefe's death
This week marked three years since Read's boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, was found dead in the snow in front of 34 Fairview Road in Canton.
"The void in our lives grows with each passing day, week, month and year," O'Keefe's family said in a statement to WBZ-TV. "His absence is profound and we will continue to seek justice for him. He is always in our hearts."
O'Keefe was the legal caretaker of his teenage niece and nephew. The medical examiner testified at Read's trial that he died from a combination of blunt force trauma to the head and hypothermia.
Who is Karen Read?
Read, 44, is a financial analyst who was living in Mansfield when she was accused of hitting O'Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die after a night of heavy drinking in January 2022.
Read has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of personal injury and death. She alleges there is an elaborate coverup involving law enforcement to frame her in O'Keefe's death.
Her first trial ended in a mistrial with a "starkly divided" hung jury. Read's second criminal trial is set to begin on April 1, 2025.
