BOSTON (Court TV) — Attorneys representing the Massachusetts woman charged in the fatal hit-and-run of her boyfriend, an officer with the Boston Police Department, filed a motion in court arguing that their client is innocent and demanding the court order further evidence produced that points to two others in the victim’s death.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson, representing Karen Read, presents evidence during a hearing May 5, 2023. (Court TV)
Karen Read, 41, was charged with second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle collision causing death in February, after her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, was found dead outside in the snow. Prosecutors in the case said the couple had been to two bars and were heading to another party when Read decided not to attend. O’Keefe got out of the vehicle, and while leaving the scene, prosecutors allege Read struck O’Keefe before driving away.
WATCH: Exclusive: Security Video Released In Karen Read Case
In a new motion filed Wednesday in the case, attorneys representing Read revealed they found evidence establishing Jennifer McCabe, a relative of the owner of the home where O’Keefe died, had used Google to search the phrase “Ho[w] long to die in the cold” hours before the victim’s body was found.
“Today is a turning point for Karen,” her attorneys, Alan Jackson and David Yannetti, said in a statement. “Finally, the truth has come out. … There is no innocent explanation for (the Google search) at that time. The evidence unequivocally exonerates Karen, because it establishes that individuals who were in the house … were aware that John was dying in the snow before Karen even knew he was missing.”
Read’s attorneys included an affidavit from a forensic examiner with the motion, attesting to the accuracy of the find. Forensic examiners also found that McCabe deleted multiple phone calls between her and Brian Albert, the homeowner, and also deleted a screenshot of Albert’s contact information.
Brian Albert is an officer with the Boston Police Department, and was described by Read’s attorneys in their motion as “a highly trained boxer and fighter with deep familial and personal ties to the Canton Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police.” In their motion, Read’s attorneys argued that Albert and his family were never treated as suspects, and that police focused solely on Read “based in no small part, on incriminating statements attributed to her by one of the actual conspirators in O’Keefe’s murder, Brian Albert’s sister-in-law, Jennifer McCabe.”
Photo taken at the scene where O’Keefe’s body was found by police. (Court documents)
“Why did we have to find all this evidence? Why did the prosecution hide this bombshell exculpatory information? It’s unthinkable that the prosecution would have McCabe’s cellphone in their possession for more than a year, do a forensic analysis on that phone, and then fail to turn over this extraordinary exculpatory evidence. But that’s exactly what happened. … We will not rest until we have uncovered all of the evidence, which will establish that the prosecution of Karen was a miscarriage of justice from the start.”
Police reports indicate that McCabe and Albert told police that O’Keefe never came inside the party, while Read has said that she didn’t realize he had never made it inside the door.
