Karen Read’s lawyers ask to see Norfolk DA’s personal emails and texts, sidebar transcripts

DEDHAM, Mass. — In a flurry of new court filings, Karen Read’s legal team requested that Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey produce all of his personal emails and text messages, asked to see transcripts of sidebar conversations that occurred during her first murder trial, and questioned the legitimacy of one of the prosecution’s expert witnesses.

Attorneys David Yannetti, Alan Jackson, and Elizabeth Little want to see any communications that Morrissey had with witnesses, court officials, and other judicial staff related to Read’s murder case.

“As ground for this motion, recent reporting, corroborated by documentary evidence, demonstrates that DA Morrissey used his personal email address to communicate ex parte with Stoughton District Court personnel and judges,” the Norfolk Superior Court filing stated.

Read’s case started in Stoughton District Court before it shifted to Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham for her trial, which ended in July with a hung jury.

Read’s lawyers claim the email sent by Morrissey contains an attachment of what appears to be a “text message or iMessage” sent to a member of the prosecution by a witness.

“This email, and presumably a number of other communications that are material and relevant to Ms. Read’s case are in the possession, custody, and control of the Commonwealth,” the filing stated. “Accordingly, Ms. Read respectfully moves this honorable court to order the Commonwealth to produce any and all communications by DA Morrissey.”

When asked about the new filing, Morrissey’s office declined to comment on the matter.

In a separate filing, Read’s lawyers requested relief from an order that impounded a transcript of sidebar conferences that occurred on April 14, 2024. They claim those conversations contain insight into court rulings that are needed before Read’s second trial begins on Jan. 27, 2025.

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Karen Read

“Without the ability to review the transcripts of those sidebar conferences, and the rationale for the court’s rulings, Ms. Read will be unable to properly prepare for trial,” the filing stated.

The court had ordered all sidebar conferences be impounded before the start of Read’s trial.

In a third filing, Read’s lawyers pushed back on Shanon Burgess, the prosecution’s expert who examined Read’s Lexus SUV.

“In his analysis, Mr. Burgess misstates the memory story capacity of the chips in question, by failing to account for the differences between a megabyte, megabit, gigabyte, and gigabit,” the filing stated. “Conversion between and among these units is a foundational digital forensics concept, which necessarily impacts data acquisition protocols and analyses thereof.”

Earlier this week, Read’s attorneys appeared before a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court judge in Boston in their bid to get her second-degree murder charge dismissed.

The SJC is now determining if jurors who sat through Read’s first trial for the death of John O’Keefe will be questioned about their deliberations. The SJC will issue a written decision that could take four months before it is published.

Read’s lawyers have been fighting to dismiss her second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly crash charge for double jeopardy reasons.

Double jeopardy is a legal protection that prohibits anyone from being prosecuted twice for the same crime.

Read is accused of killing O’Keefe, her Boston police officer boyfriend, by striking him with her SUV and leaving him in a snowstorm in Canton in January 2022.

Morrissey’s office opposes Read’s bid to get the charges dropped and argues that Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone was correct when she ruled all of Read’s charges should remain for her retrial.

On Monday, the defense and prosecutors asked to push Read’s retrial back three months.

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