Crime

Watch: Judge hears wave of motions in Karen Read’s final pre-trial hearing

Lawyers for Karen Read are seeking permission to argue that someone else was responsible for killing John O’Keefe. Prosecutors have asked the judge to block them.

By Abby Patkin

updated on April 12, 2024

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The countdown is on to Karen Read’s trial, but the evidence and arguments lawyers on both sides will be able to present to the jury remain largely up in the air following a final pre-trial hearing Friday. 

In the marathon court session, Judge Beverly Cannone heard oral arguments on dozens of motions in limine — essentially, requests regarding the facts and theories lawyers will be allowed to put forth at trial. Chief among them was a motion from prosecutors to bar Read’s lawyers from arguing a third-party culprit defense to pin the blame on someone else.

Read, 44, is accused of backing her SUV into her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, and leaving him to die outside a fellow officer’s home in Canton in January 2022. Her lawyers allege she’s been framed in a widespread cover-up among witnesses and law enforcement. 

To that end, they’re seeking permission to tell jurors their theory that O’Keefe was fatally beaten inside the home. On Friday, defense attorney David Yannetti pointed to three people who were at the house the night O’Keefe died: Homeowner Brian Albert, his nephew Colin Albert, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Brian Higgins.

None of the men have been charged with any crimes in connection with Read’s case, and prosecutors and lawyers for Higgins and Brian Albert have previously pushed back on the defense team’s claims. Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey has also publicly stated that Colin Albert had already left his uncle’s home by the time Read and O’Keefe pulled up. 

However, Yannetti said the defense has evidence of “bad blood” between O’Keefe and Colin Albert, alleging that the teenager angered O’Keefe by throwing beer cans into his bushes and cutting through his yard without permission. 

“We don’t have to prove that any of them attacked John O’Keefe such that he eventually died; they [prosecutors] have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they didn’t,” Yannetti said. “But the fact of the matter is, there is evidence that all three of them had a motive, had the opportunity and the means to attack John O’Keefe.”

Later in the day, Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally played a video clip of Read speaking to a Massachusetts State Police trooper after she was arrested following her indictment in June 2022. He played the video to support prosecutors’ motion to admit evidence that Read was in police custody when she made certain comments about O’Keefe’s death. 

“You’re aware he [O’Keefe] was beaten up by Brian and Colin Albert,” she told the trooper during the booking process, according to the video. “We’re all in on the same joke, right?”

Cannone took the majority of the motions in limine under advisement, though she did allow prosecutors’ motion to obtain criminal offender record information on potential jurors. 

Prosecutors also sought to bar any mention of federal investigations conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office or Federal Bureau of Investigations. In November 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts launched a federal grand jury probe of the investigation surrounding O’Keefe’s death, later turning over more than 3,000 pages of information to lawyers in Read’s case.

In her response to the motion, Cannone explained: “That will come into evidence the way that it typically does here in Massachusetts. You can question as to a date where the statement was made under oath, and we can discuss it as it gets closer in more detail.”

Among their pending motions in limine, the defense has asked Cannone to exclude DNA evidence from an apparent hair allegedly recovered from Read’s car, after a lab initially said it would be unable to finish testing it ahead of the trial. Lally alleged Friday that a preliminary analysis indicated a partial DNA profile generated from the hair was consistent with O’Keefe’s DNA. He said the lab report should be ready by Tuesday. 

Read’s lawyers have also asked to exclude a blood test she had done at Good Samaritan Medical Center a few hours after finding O’Keefe’s body. According to prosecutors, a forensic toxicologist was able to use the sample to estimate that Read’s blood alcohol content was around .07% to .08% shortly after 9 a.m. and would have been between .13% to .29% around the time she purportedly dropped O’Keefe off.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, have asked to include evidence of Read and O’Keefe’s purported relationship troubles as a possible motive. They’re also asking Cannone to exclude any mention of Turtleboy blogger Aidan Kearney, who is facing a slew of witness intimidation charges over his alleged harassment of witnesses in Read’s case.

Jury selection in Read’s trial begins Tuesday morning.

Part one of Read’s hearing:

Part two of Read’s hearing:

Part three of Read’s hearing:

Videos via Boston 25 News.