The Karen Read murder trial has gained national attention, and it showed in a full-blown rally in support of the defendant held on the Norfolk Superior Court steps ahead of a 2 p.m. motions hearing Tuesday afternoon.
Read is accused of running over her boyfriend of two years, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in the early hours of Jan. 29, 2022.
At the top of a stack of defense motions — which remained impounded ahead of the hearing, with the clerk citing personal information contained within them that the judge would need to clear before public consumption — was a motion to have Judge Beverly Cannone recuse herself from the case.
Cannone denied the motion after a brief recess to review the matter after arguments.
“Your honor, there has been an undeniable erosion of the public’s confidence” in the court’s ability to impartially oversee this case, defense attorney Alan Jackson said during the hearing.
“It is not an indictment of this court’s character, and we do not aver that at all,” he continued, adding that Cannone’s decision to recuse herself should come from the side of “an unwavering commitment to justice, the rule of law.”
The argument that Cannone should recuse herself stems from evidence the defense has found that purportedly shows that Sean McCabe apparently knows or has knowledge of the personal life of Cannone, which Jackson said could lead to the perception of partiality on her part.
Sean McCabe is purportedly the brother-in-law of Jennifer McCabe, who the defense has pointed to as being someone who should be considered “at least be a suspect” in the death of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, Read’s boyfriend of two years who prosecutors say she ran over with her car in late January of last year.
Prosecutor Adam Lally said that he has neither a personal or legal view that the court is not impartial
O’Keefe’s body was discovered on the front lawn of 34 Fairview St. in Canton the morning of Jan. 29, 2022. First responders found Read attempting to resuscitate O’Keefe and using her body to cover his in an attempt to provide warmth in the frigid winter air.
“I tried to save his life,” Read herself said from the courthouse steps following a hearing on May 24. “I tried to save his life at six in the morning. I was covered in his blood. I was the only one trying to save his life.”
She also had something else to say, which is the keystone in the defense’s case: “It feels we’re the only ones fighting for the truth of what happened to John O’Keefe, and me, and my family, and my attorneys, and my team have marshalled every resource to get to the truth.”
The defense argues that the Canton homeowner, fellow Boston Police Officer Brian Albert, and Jennifer McCabe, two people who were inside the home for a get-together Read and O’Keefe had planned to attend, are culpable in O’Keefe’s death.
Cannone summarized the defense motion as having four allegations: That she takes too long to make decisions on discovery motions, that she has been prejudicial in the prosecution’s favor in her motions decisions, that there is a public perception of partiality and that she somehow knows Sean McCabe and that makes her impartial.
Cannone said the claims are not true and denied the defense’s motion on all four points. She also said she wanted to make clear that she does not believe that “unsubstantiated rumors” spread online should not be grounds for removing a judge from a case.
Lally also asked that defense counsel be bound to what he referred to as professional conduct, as he said the defense counsel has been using the media “as propagandists for the defense version of the case.”
Defense attorney David Yannetti argued passionately against the “gag order.”
Cannone said she will weigh the motion and make a ruling at the next hearing date.
This is a developing story.