Karen Read has a new team of lawyers defending her in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by John O’Keefe’s family.
Read, whose murder trial ended in a mistrial earlier this year, is facing a wrongful death suit from the family of the late Boston cop.
The O’Keefe family claims that Read slammed into O’Keefe in front of 34 Fairview Road in Canton after a night out of heavy drinking, leaving her boyfriend to die in a blizzard.
O’Keefe’s brother Paul and his family filed the lawsuit against Read and two Canton bars — Waterfall Bar & Grill and C.F. McCarthy’s — as the O’Keefe family seeks monetary damages for his death.
While lawyers David Yannetti and Alan Jackson have been representing Read in her criminal murder case, three new attorneys appeared in court on Read’s behalf for the civil wrongful death lawsuit last week.
The three lawyers are from the Boston law firm Melick & Porter, LLP — William Keville Jr., Marissa Palladini, and Christopher George.
The attorneys did not immediately respond to comment on Monday.
Keville reportedly has experience with wrongful death lawsuits.
“Bill routinely counsels his clients to help avoid and/or minimize liability risks,” his bio page reads on the law firm’s website. “For example, Bill is a member of the Association of Ski Defense Attorneys and he drafts contracts and release agreements for many resorts and recreational facilities throughout New England. Bill recently secured summary judgment in favor of one of those resorts in a wrongful death case by enforcing the release agreement.”
The wrongful death suit comes after a Norfolk County judge denied Read’s attorneys’ bid to toss the charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in the death of O’Keefe.
Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone had previously declared a mistrial on July 1 after nine weeks of testimony and five days of deliberation. The second trial is set for January.
Meanwhile, Read’s criminal defense team is taking their argument that the murder charge be dropped to Massachusetts’ highest court.
In the wrongful death lawsuit, the O’Keefe family repeats what the Norfolk County DA’s Office had stated in court during the trial — that his relationship with Read had been deteriorating before his death.
Then after a night of several drinks at the Canton bars, Read drove him to 34 Fairview Road.
“After JJ (O’Keefe) got out of defendant Read’s vehicle in front of 34 Fairview Rd. on January 29, 2022, Read drove her SUV and hit JJ,” the lawsuit states. “At all relevant times on January 29, 2022, defendant Read drove her SUV in a state of intoxication.
“As a result of Read’s SUV hitting JJ on January 29, 2022, JJ was knocked down onto the ground in front of 34 Fairview Rd., suffered serious injury and died,” the lawsuit continues.
During the police investigation, a serum conversion and retrograde extrapolation was done of Read’s blood — with the results showing her BAC would have been between .13% and .29% around the time she drove, according to the suit.
That estimated BAC exceeds the legal limit to drive a motor vehicle in Massachusetts.
“As a direct and/or proximate cause of Read’s drunk driving, JJ sustained serious injuries of body and mind, conscious pain and suffering, fear of impending death, lost earnings, medical, funeral and burial expenses, and died,” the lawsuit states.
Meanwhile, Read’s attorneys have argued that she was framed for the murder by those in the Canton house that night.
Her lawyers have continued to claim that outside actors killed O’Keefe, and conspired with state and local police to frame Read for his murder. The wrongful death lawsuit addresses these claims.
“She knowingly and deliberately changed her story and fabricated a conspiracy knowing the same to be false,” the lawsuit reads. “She publicly communicated this false narrative thereby frustrating Justice for JJ.
“Such false narrative caused the Plaintiffs aggravated emotional distress,” the suit states. “The Plaintiffs listed above bring this Complaint seeking full and complete JUSTICE FOR JJ.”