1 week Ago By By Stephen Peterson [email protected]
MANSFIELD -- Prosecutors plan to involve Karen Read's family, including calling her father to testify, as they prepare to retry the Mansfield woman for the death of her police officer boyfriend. Special Assistant District Attorney Hank Brennan, who was appointed to lead the case last month by Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey, asked a Dedham Superior Court judge Friday to issue a court order for cellphone records of Read's father, William Read, and records of a media interview Read's family did about the case last year.
Read, 44, is accused of hitting John O'Keefe, a Boston cop, with her SUV outside a Canton home in January 2022 following a night of heavy drinking, then leaving him to die in a snowstorm. "The Commonwealth intends on calling William Read as a witness to testify to the various admissions made by the defendant to him," Brennan wrote in Friday's court filing. Earlier this week, Brennan asked the court to allow the prosecution to reassemble and re-test the electronics from Read's SUV.
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. Her lawyers maintain O’Keefe was beaten up and bitten by a dog inside the Canton home, owned by another Boston police officer, then dragged outside. Read's first trial was declared a mistrial in July when the jury said they were deadlocked.
Read's attorneys have asked the Supreme Judicial Court to drop two of the charges against Read, arguing several jurors told them the full jury planned to acquit her on them. The prosecution on Wednesday filed a brief with the SJC contending there's no basis for dismissing the second-degree murder and leaving the scene charges. The second trial is scheduled to begin in late January.
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