Judge approves Karen Read prosecutors' requests for reporter notes, unedited interviews
DEDHAM – Judge Beverly Cannone approved a request from prosecutors to get access to unedited and off-the-record recordings from interviews with Karen Read and her family.
A similar motion had been denied by the judge ahead of Karen Read's first trial "on narrow grounds," Judge Cannone wrote Thursday, but the new motions were approved ahead of Read's retrial.
Prosecutors asked for access to reporter notes and recordings from an interview Karen Read did with Boston Magazine in 2023, and one her parents William and Janet did with WFXT in 2023.
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan said he planned to use the information at Read's second trial to show how her story has changed over time, including what he suggested were admissions of wrongdoing.
Read has another hearing coming up on December 12, where prosecutors will argue to keep dog bite expert testimony out of her second trial.
Karen Read rulings
Judge Cannone has not yet ruled on a motion from both prosecutors and Read's attorneys to delay the trial to April. Her second trial is scheduled to begin on January 27, 2025.
She recently denied a request from the prosecution to get access to Read's parents' cell records from the month of January 2022.
Charges against Karen Read
Karen Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, with her SUV in Canton in 2022. Her attorneys argue she is the victim of an elaborate coverup and is being framed by a group of people that includes law enforcement.
Read is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence and leaving the scene of personal injury and death. She has pleaded not guilty. Her first trial ended on July 1 in a mistrial due to a hung jury.
Read wants two of the charges, second-degree murder and leaving the scene, to be thrown out, but the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has not yet ruled on that request.
