The prosecution and defense in the high-stakes legal saga over the killing of Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe were back in court Thursday, each arguing for the release of private communications less than two months before the trial is scheduled to start.
Karen Read, who's been charged with second-degree murder in the January 2022 death of O'Keefe, her boyfriend, appeared for the hearing virtually, as did her lawyer. Judge Beverly Cannone and Assistant Norfolk District Attorney Adam Lally appeared in person.
Lawyers representing Read have asked the Norfolk Superior Court judge overseeing the case for a series of things, including to dismiss the case and to disqualify the prosecutors over allegations they have made of a coverup, issues that were on Thursday scheduled to be addressed at a pre-trial hearing in February.
The coverup allegations — which prosecutors deny, as Read denies killing O'Keefe — have turned the case into among the most closely watched criminal proceedings in Massachusetts in years.
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Much of Thursday's hearing centered on whether communications between federal and district attorney investigators should be made public. The U.S. District Attorney's Office for Massachusetts has been looking into the case, and the defense sought to have those communications made public.
The federal office filed a motion telling the judge that they don't object to the release of the communications, Cannone noted, but the district attorney's office did oppose their release.
Read attorney David Yannetti claimed that letters contained in those allegations will prove that District Attorney Michael Morrissey himself is a target of the federal investigation — which he said that a member of the federal office said Wednesday remained active as of Wednesday.
The prosecution didn't provide a response in court, but a representative for the office told NBC10 Boston in an email that the office has never communicated that Morrissey "or any member of this office is the target of the federal investigation," including in what the U.S. Attorney's Office said Wednesday.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued that they should be given access to the notes, including off-the-record comments, of a Boston Magazine journalist who interviewed Read for an in-depth story in September.
A lawyer for the magazine and the reporter, Gretchen Voss, said she was willing to turn over recordings of the on-the-record comments, but that reporters have the right to keep confidential information private.
Cannone didn't issue a ruling on either matter.
Read's trial is due to begin March 12.
O'Keefe was found in the snow outside a home in Canton on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, and later pronounced dead at a hospital. Read was arrested days later on suspicion of hitting him with her SUV and leaving him to die.
In the hours beforehand, O'Keefe and Read had been drinking at a bar with a group of people, including Brian Albert and Jennifer McCabe.
Prosecutors have said they were at C.F. McCarthy's bar in Canton with several friends on the night of Jan. 28, then went to Waterfall Bar & Grille across the street around 11 p.m., where they stayed for about an hour. They left there and were invited to a party at Albert's home on Fairview Road. Hours later, O'Keefe would be found fatally injured outside that house.
Read told police she dropped O'Keefe off at the house shortly after midnight and went home because she was having stomach issues. Read returned to the home with two friends early in the morning after she was unable to get O'Keefe to respond to her calls and texts, and they found him unresponsive outside the home on Fairview Road in the snow amid blizzard-like conditions.
An autopsy found several abrasions to O'Keefe's right forearm, two black eyes, a cut to his nose, a two-inch laceration to the back of his head and multiple skull fractures. Hypothermia was also believed to be a contributing factor in his death.
Read was arrested three days after O'Keefe's body was found. Initially charged with manslaughter, she pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
Since last year, Read's team has alleged a large-scale coverup in the case. They have pointed to McCabe's phone, evidence found on O'Keefe's body, and the state police investigator in charge of the case, who they say had ties to the homeowner.
