There were several new developments this week in the Karen Read civil case.
The family of John O’Keefe, Read’s Boston police officer boyfriend, is today looking to add a California attorney to their legal team.
A new motion shows lawyers for the family have requested that Bibi Fell be added to their team. Since she is based in California, Fell needs a judge’s approval to practice law in Massachusetts.
Earlier this year, Read was aquitted of killing O’Keefe in the second of two highly publicized trials.
But the O’Keefe family’s wrongful death suit against Read is pending after a judge dismissed one claim but allowed the rest to proceed.
With a status hearing scheduled for Nov. 21, and Read planning her own countersuit, we asked NBC10 Boston commentator Sue O’Connell, who has been closely following the case since its outset, what we should expect in the coming weeks.
“Read isn’t just playing defense here,” O’Connell said. “She’s planning to countersue several investigators and witnesses, including state police and multiple people connected to the case. Most civil suits move very slowly, and this is going to be an extra complicated case.”
“The judge has suggested to all parties to try and explore resolutions, and the judge also said that realistically, a trial may not begin until 2026.”
A judge also heard arguments Wednesday about two of Read’s phones that were seized nearly two years ago and have not been returned to her even though she was found not guilty on the most serious charges she faced.
So what are prosecutors still looking for?
“Special prosecutor Robert Cosgrove — he wants to search Read’s two phones to determine if she conspired with Aidan Kearney, aka Turtleboy, to intimidate witnesses in her murder cases,” O’Connell said. “One of Read’s attorneys is calling this a fishing expedition meant to harass Read. The judge ordered again both sides to work together on a search procedure over the next 10 days while he decides whether to allow it.”
“Keep in mind that last year, special prosecutor Kenneth Mello brought witness intimidation charges against Read and Kearney to a Norfolk Superior Court grand jury, and jurors there returned a ‘no true bill’ on the matter, which means they didn’t think there was enough evidence to support those charges.”
Kearney still faces about 10 witness intimidation counts from 2023, in addition to charges from 2025.
“This case is just as wild,” O’Connell said. “Special prosecutor Cosgrove just withdrew from one of Kearney’s cases because he was named in a counterclaim by Kearney’s ex-girlfriend, leaving that case without a prosecutor. The case had already lost one prosector before Cosgrove withdrew. A judge disqualified special prosecutor Ken Mello because he communicated with Kearney’s ex-girlfriend during the alleged incident they were charging Kearney about, so that made Mello himself a potential witness in the case.”
Kearney’s attorneys are asking for his initial 2023 indictment to be thrown out on grounds that prosecutors impaired the integrity of the grand jury proceedings and failed to disclose certain evidence to the defense.
“So the drama continues, and it’s very complicated,” O’Connell said.
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