Defense attorneys for the Mansfield woman accused of killing her Boston Police officer boyfriend in late January of last year will have to wait to see if their requests for additional evidence will be granted.
Karen Read, 43, is charged in Norfolk Superior Court with second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of a collision causing death in the Jan. 29, 2022, killing of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, 46, of Canton.
On Wednesday, the simmering feud between defense attorneys David Yannetti and Alan Jackson and prosecutor Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally that has played out in blistering motions and responses since the middle of last month came to the fore as they argued their cases before Superior Court Judge Beverly J. Cannone in a courtroom packed perhaps 100 strong with members of the public who have taken interest in the case on either side.
Cannone heard arguments in the hour-long hearing but did not rule on the two discovery motions just yet.
The defense argued that there should be hard deadlines to the Commonwealth overturning evidence Yannetti describes as potentially “exculpatory, perhaps case ending.”
While additional motions have been made, the hearing Wednesday asked specifically for video surveillance from the Canton Public Library, the clothing O’Keefe was wearing the night he died, evidence seized from Read’s Lexus SUV prosecutors say delivered the killing blow when she allegedly backed up into O’Keefe and, finally and perhaps most adamantly argued, trace evidence from the wounds O’Keefe suffered — which defense attorneys argue could contain DNA evidence that shows the homeowner’s dog took part in a deadly attack on O’Keefe.
Read, who has been out on bail since her initial arraignment in Stoughton District Court just days after O’Keefe’s body was discovered, “cold to the touch” as prosecutor Lally’s most recent filing described it, outside 34 Fairview Road in Canton, a home owned by Brian Albert, one of the two people Read’s attorneys have pointed to as being culpable in O’Keefe’s death.
Outside the courtroom, one man yelled out “We support you Karen!” and others yelled out similar messages of support. On the other side, a large contingent of attendees wore yellow pins emblazoned with “Justice for JJ” in black lettering, with “JJ” being O’Keefe’s first initials and apparently a nickname he used.. While a large part of them worse Boston Police Department hoodies or other department-branded clothing, one of the pin-wearers said that they weren’t all part of the
This is a developing story.