Defendant Karen Read arrives for her murder trial, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Dedham, Mass.
The start of Karen Read's second criminal trial will be delayed after the judge overseeing the high-profile case on Monday approved a motion from both the prosecution and defense, according to court records.
In the joint motion filed last month, the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office and Read's team requested the start of the trial be moved back to April 1, 2025. It had been set to start on Jan. 27.
Judge Beverly Cannone approved the motion to push the retrial date back, according to the Norfolk Superior Court docket, and told the parties to propose an order by Thursday on scheduling.
Also in the docket, an evidentiary hearing for Tuesday was removed from the schedule at at Read's team's request.
Read is accused of hitting her Boston Police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow outside a home in Canton, Massachusetts, in January 2022. Read's team claims she was framed, the victim of a police conspiracy. She faces charges of second-degree murder, knowingly leaving the scene of an accident and involuntary manslaughter.
In the trial delay request, attorneys said they would like more time to prepare and noted that the trial will have new expert witnesses. Prosecutors have said they intends to retest some forensic evidence, and the timeframe to get the results of some of that testing was not yet clear. They are also looking to include new expert witnesses who did not testify in the first trial.
The case has captured international attention and the first trial, which ended in a mistrial in July, raised questions about the way Massachusetts State Police investigators handled the case.
