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    • Judge delays Karen Read’s wrongful death filing
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    Judge delays Karen Read’s wrongful death filing

    Online Niel Posted on

    PLYMOUTH ‒ A Superior Court judge has stayed portions of a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against Karen Read by the estate of John O’Keefe and his representative’s brother, Paul O’Keefe. Read is charged with second-degree murder in connection with the January 2022 death of John O’Keefe.

    Read’s lawyer requested a stay of the civil case pending resolution of the criminal case, arguing that parallel civil and criminal proceedings could undermine Read’s Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

    Judge William White Jr. ordered Read’s scheduled deposition in the civil case and any other discovery directly related to it suspended. Other discovery proceedings will continue without a break, according to the ruling.

    In reaching his decision, White balanced the competing interest of “timely adjudication of a civil wrong” and “the potential prejudice to the defendant of having to choose between defending himself in the civil action and protecting himself from prosecution,” he wrote he.

    The lawyer for O’Keefe’s estate argued against the stay on the grounds that the delay would cause “degradation of evidence” and the disappearance of memories or the future unavailability of witnesses.

    White’s order minimizes these concerns.

    “Given the extensive investigation into O’Keefe’s death and the completion of the initial prosecution, the risk that evidence will not be preserved and witness memories will fade does not appear to be substantial,” the judge wrote.

    O’Keefe’s estate also argued that Read’s media appearances could poison the jury, while contradicting her concern about self-incrimination.

    White rejected these arguments.

    “However distasteful Read’s media campaign may be to plaintiffs, (her media appearances) about the criminal case do not constitute a waiver of her right against self-incrimination,” he wrote.

    The wrongful death lawsuit also names two Canton bars, CF McCarthy’s and Waterfall Bar and Grill as defendants. According to the plaintiff, Read drank excessively at both bars before later hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him unconscious and exposed during a blizzard.

    Karen Read is charged with second degree murder

    Karen Read was charged with second-degree murder after the body of O’Keefe, a Boston police officer and Braintree native, was found in the driveway outside the Canton home of a fellow Boston police officer, January 29, 2022 , during a snow storm. Prosecutors say Read was drunk and angry when he intentionally hit him after a night of drinking at CF McCarthy’s and the Cascada.

    But Read’s defense attorneys say she was charged in O’Keefe’s death.

    Read is also charged with manslaughter while driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of bodily injury and death.

    Prosecutors called more than 65 witnesses in testimony that began on April 29.

    The defense witness list was much shorter and included a plow driver who said he saw nothing on the Canton lawn where O’Keefe’s body was found.

    Read’s first trial in O’Keefe’s death ended in a mistrial in July. She is scheduled to be retried on January 27, 2024.

    Defense attorneys sought to drop some charges against Karen Read

    After the mistrial, Read’s defense attorneys filed motions seeking to dismiss two charges in the case and said the jury unanimously agreed that Read was not guilty of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of an accident involving injury or death.

    But prosecutors argued the defense had the chance to object at the time the trial is overturned and did not, and the case does not have a verdict.

    Judge Beverly Cannone sided with the prosecution and ruled that Read could be retried on all charges.

    Read’s attorneys appealed Cannone’s decision to the state Supreme Court, filing a 37-page petition seeking oral arguments before a single judge. The hearing is scheduled for next month.

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    Contact Peter Blandino at [email protected]

    Online Niel
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