Watch Live: Karen Read hearing to discuss trial date, possible new evidence
DEDHAM – A potentially impactful hearing in the Karen Read case is scheduled for Tuesday as a Massachusetts judge could rule on a new date for the second trial.
You can watch the hearing live on CBS News Boston by clicking on the video player above.
Read is accused of hitting and killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow outside a Canton home in 2022.
The case returns to Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham on Tuesday as Judge Beverly Cannone weighs several motions.
Read has pleaded not guilty to second degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence and leaving the scene of personal injury and death.
William Read's phone records
Hank Brennan, a former Whitey Bulger attorney recently added as a special prosecutor in the case, is requesting phone records from Read's parents.
Brennan seeks phone records for William Read, Karen Read's father, for the 24 hours after O'Keefe's death and a call log for a 30-day period after. Prosecutors also are asking for a call log for Karen's mother, Janet Read.
During Tuesday's hearing, Brennan argued that Read called her father at 1:30 a.m., not long after she allegedly hit O'Keefe with her SUV. The call was not answered.
Brennan said he wants the additional call logs to show that it was out of the ordinary for Read to call her father in the middle of the night. He called it "terribly remarkable that she is panic calling her parents at 1:30 in the morning."
The defense called it a "gross invasion of her father's privacy" and "a fishing expedition plain and simple."
Cannone did not rule on the requests during Tuesday's hearing.
Karen Read trial date
Read stood trial once already, but the jury was not able to reach a unanimous verdict and a mistrial was declared.
Currently, Read's second trial is scheduled for January 27.
The prosecution and defense filed a joint motion asking for the trial to be delayed until April 1.
During a previous hearing, attorneys said they do not expect any additional delays beyond that.
Motions in Karen Read trial
Brennan is also expected to make his case for other new evidence in the upcoming trial.
The prosecution has also sought notes and video from news outlets that interviewed her.
Read's attorneys filed a motion in early November asking for Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey's personal emails and phone records. Defense attorneys claim Morrissey used his personal email to contact judges and employees at Stoughton District Court about the witness intimidation case against Aidan Kearney. Kearney is a blogger known as "Turtleboy" who is covering Read's case.
No ruling was made on that request at the last hearing in the case.
Who is Karen Read?
Read is a financial analyst who was living in Mansfield and dating O'Keefe at the time of his death.
She is accused of running him down with her SUV during an argument after a night of heavy drinking.
Read is asking for two of the charges, second-degree murder and leaving the scene, to be thrown out on grounds of double jeopardy. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court heard arguments on the issue in recent weeks, but not ruling has been made.
