The defense attorney for the woman facing charges in the January death of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe argued that the state hasn’t provided him with the necessary documents for him to do his job.
“I’m trying to defend this case. I’m trying to get the information that I’m entitled to and I’ve been frustrated at every turn,” defense attorney David Yannetti said at a probable cause hearing Tuesday in Stoughton District Court. “I’m trying to do it with one hand tied behind my back and it’s not fair and it’s not just.”
Karen Read, 41, of Mansfield — O’Keefe’s girlfriend of two years — faces charges of manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle collision causing death. She posted $50,000 bail and was released following her Feb. 2 arraignment.
Yannetti spoke before Judge Daniel O’Malley in the First Session over the sounds of people, several of which wore police-branded clothing items, filing into the courtroom to fill it nearly to capacity. One of the few benches left with space was the one on which Read’s family sat. This was a slightly less crowded replay of the arraignment that filled the court to standing-room-only.
Prosecutors say Read struck O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV after dropping him off during a snowstorm shortly after midnight Jan. 29 at a Canton home on Fairview Road for a private get-together following a night out at two area bars with friends.
That initial police affidavit showing the timeline of that fateful night is one of the few documents Yannetti said he has in a discovery process that has lasted more than a month at this point.
“Everything will be provided to Mr. Yannetti in due course,” Norfolk Assistant District Attorney Adam Lalley said, adding he had made inquiries to police and other agencies involved in the case and its evidence. “I certainly can’t produce reports that haven’t been authored or written yet at this point.”
He said that a grand jury investigating the incident was impaneled last week and will remain so until the end of the month. A new grand jury will be impaneled in April, he said, adding that it has been difficult getting the ball rolling until the surge of the omicron variant of COVID-19 began to wane.
With both attorneys in agreement that there wasn’t much to show on the discovery process yet Judge O’Malley decided to continue the probable cause hearing to March 10.
“Mr. Yannetti, I understand what you want. You want what you want and Mr. Lalley concedes that you’re entitled to what you want for the most part,” O’Malley said. “You’re both very experienced … You two need to put your heads together and do some more work.”