DEDHAM, Mass. — A redacted copy of a new defense motion that seeks to dismiss all charges in the Karen Read murder case on the “basis of extraordinary governmental misconduct” accuses the Commonwealth of “destroying exculpatory evidence, withholding exculpatory evidence, and interfering with the jury.”
Read, 44, of Mansfield, is accused of hitting her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022, and leaving him to die in a snowstorm 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 dragged outside.
The 147-page motion filed in Dedham’s Norfolk Superior Court, obtained Thursday by Boston 25 News, states that “Read has been severely prejudiced by the Commonwealth’s pervasive misconduct.”
A redacted copy of Karen Read’s motion to dismiss references many issues the defense has previously raised in court.
— Ted Daniel (@TedDanielnews) February 27, 2025
It accuses the Commonwealth of “destroying exculpatory evidence, withholding exculpatory evidence, and interfering with the jury….”
Going through it all… pic.twitter.com/ZFZLFQ0nuh
Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial in July 2024 after finding jurors couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict on all three charges. Earlier this month, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts denied Read’s bid to dismiss her charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly crash for double jeopardy reasons.
Read’s attorneys had argued that their client’s double jeopardy protections were violated because several jurors who came forward after the mistrial indicated that Read was found not guilty of the two charges in question. Cannone later rejected a motion to dismiss the charges, prompting the SJC appeal.
Read’s lawyers argue in the new motion that the state “altered the course” of Read’s first trial and that there is “no cure” for that other than dropping all charges against their high-profile client.
“The Commonwealth altered the course of the first trial in this case by destroying exculpatory evidence, withholding exculpatory evidence, and interfering with the jury—in a case in which the jury either voted to acquit or was deadlocked on the lesser(s) of one charge,” the motion states. “There is no cure, short of dismissal with prejudice, that can remedy the serious constitutional and statutory.”
The motion also blasts the state’s handling of “all” video evidence in the ongoing case against Read, specifically alleging that prosecutors have “suppressed discoverable and exculpatory” surveillance footage from Canton police.
“The Commonwealth has suppressed discoverable and exculpatory video surveillance footage from the Canton Police Department,” Read’s lawyers alleged in the filing. “For reasons that remain unexplained, much of the video that has been disclosed is ‘missing’ critical timeframes and evidence central to Ms. Read’s defense. Some of the video clearly appears altered or manipulated, as evidenced by people ‘appearing’ and ‘disappearing’ out of nowhere.”
Read’s lawyers also targeted Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally in the filing, alleging that he “brazenly introduced inverted video” and “elicited patently false testimony” from Massachusetts State Police Trooper Sergeant Yuriy Bukhenik.
The defense claims that Bukhenik was coaxed into testifying that the video was a “fair and accurate depiction of critical events” in an attempt to “falsely insinuate to the jury that no member of law enforcement ever approached, touched, or otherwise disturbed the right rear taillight of Ms. Read’s SUV.”
“There can be no doubt that this video and false testimony was offered to mislead this court, the jury, and the defense,” the motion states. “To this day, the Commonwealth’s failure to explain the disturbing circumstances surrounding their disclosure of the exculpatory sallyport video, and why some video was suppressed from the defense at the first trial, has made a mockery of Ms. Read’s right to due process.”
Read’s attorneys also allege in the filing that the prosecution “huddled” with key witness, Jennifer McCabe, and “prepped” her on how to explain herself during the trial.
“As a result of this extraordinary governmental misconduct, Ms. Read has been permanently and irreversibly denied her constitutional right to a fair trial,” the motion stated. “No remedy other than dismissal can adequately address the significant harm caused to Ms. Read and the injustice of proceeding without the lost exculpatory evidence that was in the Commonwealth’s possession. Accordingly, the case against Ms. Read must be dismissed with prejudice.”
Many of the pages included in the 147-page motions appeared completely blacked out.
Read the redacted motion below:
This new motion comes after Boston 25′s Ted Daniel first reported on Monday that the federal probe of the Read case is over. Two sources told Daniel that federal prosecutors notified the Massachusetts State Police, the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office, and the Canton Police Department last week that no charges would be filed.
As 25 Investigates reported in December 2023, the federal probe was run by the U.S. Attorney’s Public Corruption Unit and agents from the Boston FBI office assisted with it. It was focused on widely publicized allegations that Read was framed for O’Keefe’s death by law enforcement and those she and O’Keefe had been drinking with in the hours before O’Keefe was found unresponsive outside 34 Fairview Road.
In an exclusive one-on-one interview on Super Bowl Sunday, Read told Daniel that she has “nothing to hide” and that she’s “been framed” for murder.
On Tuesday, a previous pre-retrial hearing that was brought to an abrupt end continued with Cannone addressing her “grave concerns” about the defense’s handling of two of their star witnesses.
One of Read’s attorneys, Robert Alessi, responded in court after special prosecutor Hank Brennan accused the defense of essentially lying about dealings that they had with ARCCA crash reconstruction experts.
Alessi told the court that there was nothing shady about their interactions with accident reconstruction specialist Dr. Daniel Wolfe and biomechanical engineering specialist Dr. Andrew Rentschler, accusing Brennan of misleading Cannone.
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 and 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.
Alessi confirmed that Read’s legal team did pay for the ARCCA fee after 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.”
Cannon ended Tuesday’s hearing without deciding if the defense will face any consequences, however, she previously suggested that this could “have profound effects” on the future of the case.
The defense and prosecution are due back in court on Tuesday, March 4.
The retrial of Read is slated for April 2025.
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