A woman charged with the murder of her police officer boyfriend who has argued she is being framed is fighting for more access to phone records they say will show a conflict of interest.
The latest developments in the controversial and infamous John O'Keefe murder case played out on Friday morning in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts, with Karen Read herself appearing before a judge.
Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston Officer O'Keefe, in Canton in 2022, and has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges. Her defense team has alleged a large scale cover-up, and the case has attracted national attention.
Friday's motion hearing began around 9 a.m., with Read entering the courtroom to applause. Four motions were on the docket to be discussed between attorneys representing Read, other witnesses and the Commonwealth.
During Friday's hearing, the defense argued that there is a close relationship between the McCabe family, Albert family and Elizabeth and Michael Proctor. Michael Proctor is the state trooper who is the lead investigator in the case, and Elizabeth is his wife. O'Keefe was found dead outside of Brian Albert's home, where Read was said to have dropped him off after a night drinking with friends. Jennifer McCabe is Albert's sister-in-law.
The defense tried to paint a picture of a biased Proctor because of the connection between the families, using that as ammunition to ask for communications between the Proctors, McCabe and Albert.
McCabe's attorney said Friday that the argument is based on speculation, with opposition to the motion holding that there was not proper legal grounds to release the communications.
The second motion was for a protective order on the DNA profiles of the investigating officers. The defense does not wish for the state crime lab to handle their DNA, which the Commonwealth did not disagree too.
There was a point of contention about how long the DNA profiles could be kept and for what else they could be used for, after compared to a key piece of evidence in the case. The sampling of the investigators' DNA is pending the boundaries of the protective order.
The judge would take both motions under advisement.
Two other motions by the defense were brought up, but not discussed at length. They were motions for protective orders regarding letters between local and federal prosecutors, as well as for communications with Boston Magazine.
The defense said that it would be filing a motion to dismiss, motion for sanctions and a motion for the DA's office to be disqualified from the case by the end of day Friday.
No final decisions were made by the hearing's end. Another court date was scheduled for Jan. 18 at 3 p.m., as the March 12 trial date looms closer.
O'Keefe was found in the snow outside a home in Canton on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, and later pronounced dead at a hospital. Read was arrested days later on suspicion of hitting him with her SUV and leaving him to die.
In the hours beforehand, O'Keefe and Read had been drinking at a bar with a group of people, including Albert and McCabe.
Prosecutors have said they were at C.F. McCarthy's bar in Canton with several friends on the night of Jan. 28, then went to Waterfall Bar & Grille across the street around 11 p.m., where they stayed for about an hour. They left there and were invited to a party at Albert's home on Fairview Road. Hours later, O'Keefe would be found fatally injured outside that house.
Read told police she dropped O'Keefe off at the house shortly after midnight and went home because she was having stomach issues. Read returned to the home with two friends early in the morning after she was unable to get O'Keefe to respond to her calls and texts, and they found him unresponsive outside the home on Fairview Road in the snow amid blizzard-like conditions.
An autopsy found several abrasions to O'Keefe's right forearm, two black eyes, a cut to his nose, a two-inch laceration to the back of his head and multiple skull fractures. Hypothermia was also believed to be a contributing factor in his death.
Read was arrested three days after O'Keefe's body was found. Initially charged with manslaughter, she pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
Since last year, Read's team has alleged a large-scale coverup in the case. They have pointed to McCabe's phone, evidence found on O'Keefe's body, and the state police investigator in charge of the case, who they say had ties to the homeowner.
