DEDHAM, Mass. (Court TV) — With one week to go until jury selection begins in her murder retrial, Karen Read returned to court on Tuesday for a final motions hearing.
Karen Read appears in court with her attorneys during a final pretrial hearing on March 25, 2025. (Court TV)
Read is facing multiple charges, including second-degree murder, in the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. While prosecutors have accused Read of hitting and killing O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV while driving drunk, Read and her team have accused the police of a sloppy investigation and wide-ranging cover-up.
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Judge Beverly Cannone deferred ruling on whether to allow Read’s defense to use a third-party defense at her trial. Special Prosecutor Hank Brennan argued that accusing the Commonweath’s witnesses of being involved in O’Keefe’s death or bringing up their prior bad acts would prejudice the prosecution’s case and distract the jury from the issue at hand. Brennan argued that the defense has a burden to produce evidence linking the alleged third-party culprits to the case and showing that they had motive and opportunity.
Read’s attorney, David Yannetti, countered that while the Commonwealth may not agree with the interpretation of the evidence, there is plenty that exists to indicate that O’Keefe entered the house before he was found dead on the property. Yannetti walked through the three people the defense has identified as potential third-party culprits: Brian Albert, Colin Albert and Brian Higgins. Yannetti also argued that a defendant has a Constitutional right to present a third-party defense and suggested that Brennan was “acting more like a defense attorney than a prosecutor.”
Brennan, a defense attorney who has represented clients including mobster James “Whitey” Bulger, was hired by the Commonwealth to step in to lead the prosecution for the retrial.
Judge Cannone blocked an attempt by Brennan to access texts between Yannetti and Read over his arguments that the defendant waived her attorney-client privilege by discussing texts with her attorney in media interviews. Interrupting another of Read’s attorneys, Robert Alessi, while he was arguing against Brennan’s motion, Judge Cannone refused to even look at the messages in her chambers, away from the prosecution. “I understand the Commonwealth’s argument,” she said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for my eyes. Motion is denied.”
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Following the hearing, Judge Cannone issued a written ruling denying the defense’s motion to dismiss the case. While she agreed that the disclosure of the Sally Port video from the Canton Police Department was done late, Cannone found that Read’s defense failed to show “what, if anything, her counsel would have done differently if the disclosure had come earlier.”
Judge Cannone’s decision contains new information about a juror, referenced as “Juror A” who was dismissed from Read’s first trial. Juror A allegedly approached the court on June 14 to report that “Juror B” had made comments about the evidence and the defendant. Juror B was excused from the jury. Cannone then goes on to detail a second issue with Juror A, who allegedly went to a local post for the American Legion and was overheard — and possibly recorded — talking about the case. The same officer who approached the court with the information was Michael Proctor’s supervisor at the Massachusetts State Police. Following a discussion at sidebar during the trial, Juror A was dismissed.
When the parties return to court on April 1 for the start of jury selection, they will be joined by more than 100 jurors who have been called to service. Judge Cannone worked with the jury commissioner to summon a massive pool of jurors, 218 of whom are due to report on Monday. Each juror will be given a three-page questionnaire to begin the voir dire process. Cannone has said she expects the jury selection process to take weeks.
On March 26, court filings revealed that a juror from Read’s first trial is now an attorney on her defense team. A court official confirmed to Court TV that attorney Victoria George was “a juror who became an alternate.”
