‘Poorly worded’: Karen Read’s defense clarifies payments to crash reconstruction experts

DEDHAM, Mass. — The judge presiding over the Karen Read murder case could rule as early as Tuesday if there was misconduct by the defense in their handling of two expert witnesses.

The case is due back in Dedham’s Norfolk Superior Court for the continuation of a pre-retrial hearing on Judge Beverly Cannone’s “grave concerns,” which was extended on Tuesday, Feb. 25.

Special prosecutor Hank Brennan accused the defense earlier this month of essentially lying about dealings that they had with ARCCA crash reconstruction experts Dr. Daniel Wolfe and Dr. Andrew Rentschler, bringing a hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 18, to an abrupt end.

In new court filings Monday, Read’s defense sought to clarify statements made in documents for the previous hearing, specifically a motion that states the ARCCA crash experts “were not hired or paid by the defense.”

“The statement…. was poorly worded and should have reflected, more specifically, that the defense did not hire, retain, or pay ARCCA, LLC, to engage in the reconstruction, analysis, and/or testing that was performed by ARCCA in connection with this case,” attorney Elizabeth Little wrote in an affidavit.

In a corresponding filing, Read’s defense admits to paying ARCCA experts for their time and expenses after trial. According to the document, the payments included:

• Travel expenses and time associated with traveling to Norfolk Superior Court.
• Less than 1 hour in calls with the defense to coordinate attendance and discuss the experts’ background.
• Time spent testifying in court and the experts’ internal preparation for trial.

Wolfe and Rentschler both testified on behalf of Read in June 2024 and stated that injuries to Read’s Boston police officer boyfriend weren’t consistent with a vehicle strike.

Brennan has alleged that the defense hid communications with ARCCA, as well as a more than $23,000 payment they allegedly made to the engineering consulting firm, initially hired by federal authorities to look into Read’s case.

Defense attorney Robert Alessi responded to Brennan’s claims during last week’s hearing, telling the court that there was nothing shady about their interactions, accusing Brennan of misleading Cannone.

Alessi confirmed that Read’s legal team did pay ARCCA after the trial, but Brennan has maintained that the information should have been shared publicly.

“Of course, any attorney, unless they want to risk malpractice, is going to make a communication with that expert, which was perfectly legal,” Alessi argued.

Brennan responded, “It is the bias, the relationship that is critical, and that was hidden from the court.”

Cannone ended last week’s hearing without deciding if the defense would face any consequences, however, she previously suggested that this could “have profound effects” on the future of the case.

In another filing, an expert for Read’s defense is asking a judge to reconsider a request to preserve “forensically sound” video evidence.

IT forensic analyst Matthew Erickson claims the state “may have additional video surveillance footage from January 29, 2022, that is being stored on… the Canton Police Department’s Video File System.”

Erickson says it is “imperative that this additional source of information be preserved and dealt with in a forensically sound manner, as it may serve as another source of information related to the authenticity and integrity of the video surveillance at issue in this case.”

Read’s defense alleges investigators may have deleted evidence and manipulated videos related to the investigation to frame Read.

Prosecutors also filed a “Notice of Discovery,” outlining more than a dozen files, emails, and other evidence they’ve turned over to Read’s defense team for review.

Both sides will be back in court Tuesday for a hearing starting at 9:00 a.m.

The latest scheduled hearing also comes after Read’s attorneys filed a fresh 147-page motion to dismiss the case against their client, on the “basis of extraordinary governmental misconduct.” In the filing, the defense accuses the Commonwealth of “destroying exculpatory evidence, withholding exculpatory evidence, and interfering with the jury.”

Prosecutors fired back in a 15-page opposition to Read’s motion, arguing that it “should be denied” because the “defense’s claims do not raise any substantial issues.”

Read is accused of hitting her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV on Jan. 29, 2022, and leaving him to die after a night of drinking.

The defense has sought to portray Read as the victim, saying O’Keefe was actually killed inside the Albert family home and then dragged outside and left for dead.

The retrial of Read has been delayed until April 2025. Cannone declared a mistrial in July 2024 after finding jurors couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict on all three charges of second-degree murder, leaving the scene of a crash, and manslaughter.

In an exclusive one-on-one interview on Super Bowl Sunday, Read told Boston 25′s Ted Daniel that she has “nothing to hide” and that she’s “been framed” for murder.

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