Karen Read's lawyers and the Norfolk DA's Office want her murder trial to be delayed

BOSTON — Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreeing on something for once?

Both Karen Read’s lawyers and the Norfolk DA’s Office are jointly pushing for a delay to her high-profile murder trial next year.

The opposing sides on Monday filed a joint motion to continue the trial date from Jan. 27 to April 1, 2025.

The motion was from Read’s attorneys, Alan Jackson and David Yannetti, along with the special prosecutor for the Norfolk DA’s Office, Hank Brennan.

“The joint request will allow both the Commonwealth and defense adequate time to prepare for the trial, accommodate the schedule of new witnesses, including expert witnesses, will allow for the testing and disclosures by the experts timely before trial, and will result in a far more efficient and streamlined presentation of evidence by both parties,” the Norfolk DA’s special prosecutor and Read’s defense attorneys wrote.

Read, 44, of Mansfield, was charged in Norfolk Superior Court on June 9, 2022, with second-degree murder (Count 1), motor vehicle manslaughter (Count 2), and leaving the scene of a collision causing death (Count 3).

She’s accused of mowing down her boyfriend of two years, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, with her SUV and leaving him to freeze and die on a Canton front lawn in the early morning of Jan. 29, 2022.

A trial ended on July 1 with a hung jury, and a new trial is scheduled to begin on Jan. 27. Read’s attorneys shortly after the first trial ended said that jurors came forward to say that they were unanimously ready to acquit Read on Counts 1 and 3, and were only hung on Count 2 but didn’t know how to indicate a partial verdict.

This information, Read’s team argues, means she should only be retried on the manslaughter charge in the upcoming proceedings. Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone disagreed and denied their motion, so Read’s team took it to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Norfolk prosecutors are fighting back there, and a resolution is pending.

Meanwhile, the Norfolk DA’s Office recently filed a notice that they intend to re-test forensic evidence ahead of the second trial.

“Further, the Commonwealth has provided notice to the defense that it has retained a biomechanical engineer who is expected to testify at trial,” reads Monday’s joint motion.

The time frame of that forensic testing is unclear as of now. The Norfolk DA’s Office also said it expects to have new experts testify during the second trial, and the defense will need time to respond to such experts.

The joint motion reads, “The Commonwealth is doing everything in its power to be as expeditious as possible to properly prepare for this trial and ensure the defendant is given a fair trial.”

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