Karen Read returns to court before murder trial in police officer boyfriend's death
Karen Read returned to court for the final time before she stands trial for the 2022 murder of her Boston Police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe.
The judge, prosecution and defense went through some 40 motions ahead of the trial next week.
Dozens of supporters of Karen Read were outside Norfolk Superior Court Friday morning, even with the driving rain.
Inside, it was a full courtroom with people in support of Read and family members of John O'Keefe, the Boston police officer whose death in late January 2022 is the center of the case.
The defense and prosecution are going over what evidence will be included at trial.
Prosecutors allege Read backed into O'Keefe with her SUV during a January snowstorm, leaving him to die in front of a Canton home.
The defense said Friday they will be arguing a third party, someone else, killed O'Keefe that night.
"It is not our job to solve this case for the prosecution," defense attorney David Yannetti said. "It's our contention they had the opportunity to do that, but they failed. It is not our job to name a specific third-party culprit. We do not have to prove that Brian Albert or Collin Albert or Brian Higgins or some combination of them, intended to kill John O'Keefe. We don't have to prove that any of them attacked John O'Keefe, such that he eventually died. They have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they didn't."
The prosecutors say they need more specific information about Read's defense, that someone else killed O'Keefe.
"I'm not seeking to preclude counsel from from making arguments or from counsel asking questions. What I'm seeking clarification on is what exactly, and again, this is from a position of operating without any information whatsoever, as to what a defense may be," prosecutor Adam Lally said.
Prosecutors say Read does have a right to present an alternative story of O'Keefe's murder, but say so far, her lawyers have not been clear about what that story is.
The trial is set to begin on Tuesday.