Hearing on various motions in the Karen Read case for today

DEDHAM − A judge will today consider a joint motion by prosecutors and the defense team for a new trial against Karen Lees postponed until April 1, 2025.

Read is a Mansfield woman accused of killing her Boston police officer friend, John O’Keefe, born in Braintree.

Judge Beverly Cannone declared the case a mistrial in July. She has a second trial scheduled to begin on January 27, 2025. The court confirmed this last month Cannone will oversee Read’s second trial.

Cannone will also consider several motions filed by the defense during today’s hearing, including one requesting that Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey be ordered to turn over personal emails and cell phone records prior to trial Read’s second trial.

Why they want Karen Read’s retrial postponed

The prosecution and defense filed a joint motion in Norfolk Superior Court earlier this month requesting a delay in the trial.

“The joint request will provide both the Commonwealth and the defense with sufficient time to prepare for trial, will accommodate the schedule of new witnesses, including expert witnesses, will allow for testing and disclosure by the experts in a timely manner before the process, and will result in a far more efficient and streamlined presentation of evidence by both parties,” the motion reads. The motion states that prosecutors plan to retest evidence and have hired a biomechanical engineer who is expected to testify at trial.

“These new Commonwealth experts are also expected to generate reports following testing and analysis, which the defense will need time to consider and possibly respond to, possibly with additional experts of their own,” the motion reads.

The defense is seeking the prosecutor’s phone records and seized transcripts of Read’s trial

The defense filed several separate motions over the course of the week, including a request for personal emails and cellphone records from Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey.

The defense argues in its motion that Morrissey may have used his personal email and cell phone to communicate with Stoughton District Court staff and judges while Read’s case was previously pending in that court.

Will we hear more from car expert about Karen Read’s Lexus SUV?

In separate filings, Read’s attorneys are asking for relief from a warrant for the seizure of a copy of the sidebar that took place on April 14, 2024, and are also challenging the testimony of Shanon Burgess, the prosecution’s expert witness who stole the Lexus SUV from Read has researched.

Karen Read charged with manslaughter

Read was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence and leaving the scene of personal injury and death after O’Keefe’s body was found outside the home of a fellow Boston police officer in Canton on January 29, 2022 during a snowstorm. Prosecutors say Read was drunk and angry when she deliberately hit him. But Read’s attorneys say she was charged in O’Keefe’s death.

Read is also charged with manslaughter while driving drunk and leaving the scene of personal injury and death. Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey recently announced that he has appointed Special Assistant District Attorney Hank Brennan to lead Read’s retrial.