Karen Read’s Defense Accuses Prosecution of Withholding Critical Video Evidence—Again
For those just tuning in, Karen Read stands accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, by allegedly running him over with her SUV on a snowy night in January 2022. The prosecution’s story? Read was drunk, angry, and intentionally struck O’Keefe, then left the scene. The defense’s story? Read is being framed, and the evidence against her has been manipulated to fit a narrative that conveniently ignores other possible explanations for O’Keefe’s death.
Her first trial, which kicked off in April 2024, was a chaotic spectacle featuring more than 65 prosecution witnesses, a much shorter defense witness list, and ultimately—no verdict. After days of deadlock, the jury just couldn’t agree, and Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial in July. Now, with a retrial scheduled for April 1, Read’s attorneys are coming out swinging, arguing that the whole case should be thrown out before it even starts.
So, what’s the big bombshell this time? According to the defense, prosecutors withheld crucial surveillance footage that could exonerate Read. Specifically, a clip from the Canton Police Station’s sallyport—a secured garage area—shows someone approaching the taillight of Read’s SUV on the day she was arrested. If that doesn’t set off alarm bells, consider this: the defense didn’t get their hands on that footage until January 2025, nearly three years after the incident and after an entire trial had already played out.
Why does that matter? Well, Read’s defense has long argued that her tail light was tampered with and that shattered pieces were planted near O’Keefe’s body to make it look like she hit him. If there’s footage showing someone messing with her car at the police station, that theory suddenly holds a lot more weight. The motion to dismiss calls this “a mockery of Ms. Read’s right to due process.” And honestly, it’s hard to argue with that phrasing.
But the missing footage doesn’t stop there. The defense claims that there’s a full 42-minute gap in the sallyport surveillance video from when Read’s SUV first arrived. If that missing footage were to show the taillight intact before it mysteriously turned up shattered at the crime scene, it would blow a hole right through the prosecution’s case. The defense is now demanding a copy of the original video, complete with metadata, so experts can determine whether it was altered or selectively edited.
The prosecution, of course, is pushing back. They deny any ethical violations or misconduct, let alone anything serious enough to dismiss the case entirely. They also argue that Read’s defense team is grasping at straws, trying to create doubt where there isn’t any. But considering the prosecution has already been caught withholding evidence, that’s a tough sell.
And it doesn’t end there. The defense is also battling accusations that they secretly paid accident reconstruction experts from ARCCA for their opinions. Read’s attorneys insist that they never paid for testimony, only reimbursing travel expenses under guidance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The prosecution, meanwhile, has been trying to get those same experts banned from the retrial. If you’re wondering why, well—it’s probably because their findings don’t exactly support the state’s theory.
At this point, Read has already had multiple motions to dismiss denied, and she’s appealed those rulings all the way up to Massachusetts’ highest court and even federal court. But this latest motion to dismiss is the most explosive yet, accusing prosecutors of bending the system to secure a conviction at any cost. Whether the judge agrees remains to be seen, but one thing is clear—this case is far from over.
Next up, Read and her team are set to return to Norfolk Superior Court for motion hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a pre-trial conference scheduled for Friday. Meanwhile, the case is also heading to federal appeals court this week, adding yet another layer of complexity to an already tangled legal battle.
#KarenRead #JohnOKeefe #LegalBattle #CourtroomDrama #TrueCrime
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