DEDHAM − More than two years after investigators found the body of Braintree native and Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe in a snowbank outside a Canton home, opening arguments in the murder trial related to his death are set to begin Monday at Dedham Superior Court.
Karen Read, 44, of Mansfield, has been charged with second-degree murder. She and O’Keefe were romantically involved, and prosecutors say they argued intensely in the months preceding O’Keefe’s death on Jan. 29, 2022.
Since then, the case has taken many twists and turns, drawing considerable public interest and media attention. The defense has alleged a massive coverup involving Canton police, State Police and the Norfolk district attorney’s office.
A federal probe investigated the state’s prosecution of the case, while Massachusetts State Police conducted an investigation into its lead investigator, Trooper Michael Proctor.
Meanwhile, controversial blogger Aidan Kearney, popularly known as Turtle Boy, has fueled large and intense ‘Free Karen Read’ demonstrations through his many articles and YouTube videos. Kearney himself faces more than a dozen witness intimidation charges in relation to the case.
The case against Karen Read
Prosecutors say Read struck O’Keefe with his SUV in the driveway of a Canton home after a night of drinking and arguing, then left him to die of exposure during a snowstorm. The home on Fairview Road belonged to Boston Police Officer Brian Albert.
In court filings, the prosecution, led by Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally, has pointed to evidence suggesting a strained relationship between O’Keefe and Read to establish the latter’s motive. Evidence includes voicemails in which Read screams about hating him and accusing him of sexual activity with “another girl.”
Prosecutors have also documented physical evidence taken from Read’s SUV and the snowbank where O’Keefe’s body was found. They say pieces of a cracked taillight from Read’s SUV were found in the snow by the driveway. The State Police Crime Laboratory found O’Keefe’s DNA on that broken taillight, according to court filings.
The third-party culprit defense
Read’s lawyers say that O’Keefe was beaten by people inside Albert’s home on Fairview Road and was bitten by a dog before being left outside in the snow. Her attorneys allege a coverup by multiple people and a conspiracy to frame Read of O’Keefe’s murder.
The defense has said that a description of O’Keefe’s injuries in the autopsy report is not consistent with a motor vehicle collision but rather with an animal attack. The prosecution says no canine DNA was detected on O’Keefe’s person.
Read’s counsel has also raised an internet search by Albert’s sister-in-law, Jennifer McCabe, since the day O’Keefe’s body was found. The search from McCabe’s cellphone reads, “hos [sic] long to die in cold.”
Read’s defense said that the search was entered at approximately 2:30 am, hours before the body was found, but the prosecution wrote in a filing that three experts agree it was done at approximately 6:23 am, after O’Keefe was found.
The defense has also alleged prosecutorial misconduct, saying that State Police lead investigator Michael Proctor had ties to the Albert family that were not disclosed in hearings before the grand jury. Read’s lawyers allege the same about Canton Detective Michael Lank, who participated in the initial investigation of O’Keefe’s death.
The ‘Free Karen Read’ movement
During the pretrial and jury selection phases of the case, large crowds assembled outside Dedham Superior Court to express their support for Read.
The demonstrations have grown to such a size and intensity that Judge Beverly Cannone issued an order prohibiting protests within 200 feet of the courthouse during the trial. Cannone also banned “audio-enhancing devices” such as megaphones.
Cannone told swearers that the trial is expected to last 6 to 8 weeks. It will include several dozen witnesses. According to court documents, prosecutors plan to call 87 witnesses during the trial. The defense plans to call up to 77. Some names appear on both lists.
The defense indicated it would call Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey to answer questions about an alleged conflict of interest within the Canton police department during its investigation as well as the Massachusetts State Police detective unit assigned to the case.
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