A Massachusetts woman accused of killing her police officer boyfriend will appear in court, Tuesday, for the final time before her trial begins - while members of the community gather outside the courthouse, insisting that she has been framed.
Karen Read's attorneys asked Judge Beverly Cannone to drop the charges against the defendent, while the prosecution argued that the defense did not meet the burden to dismiss the case. Cannone ruled that the trial would still be held as scheduled, according to WFXT.
"It's not a 3-card Monte." Defense Attorney Alan Jackson disputes what the Commonwealth laid out as some of the evidence against #KarenRead.
— Court TV (@CourtTV) March 12, 2024
Read is charged with 2nd-degree murder after her Boston cop boyfriend was found dead.#CourtTV What are YOUR theories on this case? pic.twitter.com/cbQC6NiXmh
Prosecutors say that Read hit John O'Keefe with her Lexus in January 2022, after the pair had spent the evening drinking during a snowstorm. Read, 43, has maintained her innocence - instead claiming that O'Keefe was beaten up, bitten by a dog and then left outside on the cold winter evening.
The case has become a lightning rod of controversy in Canton, Massachusetts - with many residents insisting it is part of a larger police coverup.
"The Karen Read case lit a match and started a wildfire, and that fire spread quickly," local Congregationalist pastor John Tamilio III told the Boston Globe. "I don't know how much of that fuel existed before the death of John O'Keefe, but the 'Free Karen Read' people do feel that there is corruption at every level in town."
The case has become so contentious that local leaders suspended public comment during Canton Select Board meetings last autumn. The situation was further enflamed when cotroversial Massachusetts blogger Aidan "Turtleboy" Kearney began to extensively cover case, while advocating for Read's innocence. He was subsequently indicted on witness tampering charges, according to the Boston Globe.
Read's trial was delayed by five weeks after both the prosecution and the defense were given an extensive new report from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, according to WCVB.
Read's attorneys have attempted to get the criminal charges against her dismissed and have disputed the prosecution's allegation that Read was angry that O'Keefe was cheating on her. The prosecution fired back claiming that Read's team had not provided sufficient explanations for existing evidence.
"The defendant complains that the Commonwealth attempted to besmirch the defendant in some manner and fabricate problems within her relationship with the victim as a motive for murder by introducing testimony about an incident four weeks prior in Aruba," prosecutors said, according to WCVB.
"Yet the defendant avoids mention or challenge to the venomous voicemails she left on the victim's cell phone as well as evidence of other issues in their relationship, including the defendant's recent romantic entanglement."
