DEDHAM, Mass. — Nine law students from Boston-area schools are volunteering for Karen Read’s defense team, including five from Boston College, three from Harvard University, and one from Northeastern University.
The students will serve as law clerks, assisting with case law research, document preparation, and courtroom analysis.
Read told 25 Investigates reporter Ted Daniel that her team interviewed more than 50 candidates in the fall after her mistrial. Some of the clerks have been seated with her family during pretrial hearings.
“They are working pro bono for my defense,” Read said in a statement.
Eight of the clerks are in their third and final year of law school and are expected to take the bar exam after graduation.
The clerks include Sophia Hunt of Virginia, outgoing Harvard Law Review president and Harvard Defenders member; Regan Hawkins of Kenosha, Wisconsin, Harvard Law teaching fellow and 1L Ames Moot Court co-chair; and Evan Wolk, a Boston College Law teaching assistant and Norwood, Massachusetts, native.
Read is charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 29, 2022, death of her then-boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton. Jury selection in her retrial is scheduled to begin Tuesday.
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