Karen Read case update: Norfolk DA's Office trying to get all audio, notes, messages from Boston Magazine reporter

BOSTON — The Norfolk DA’s special prosecutor is again trying to get his hands on unpublished material about murder defendant Karen Read from a news outlet.

A few weeks after the new prosecutor requested Boston 25 to turn over an entire video of interviews with Read, the prosecutor has now filed a motion about a Boston Magazine reporter.

Special prosecutor Hank Brennan’s motion is for all of BoMag reporter Gretchen Voss’ audio recordings, interview notes, emails, text messages and voicemails with Read.

Voss in September 2023 wrote a long read on the bombshell case south of Boston, with the headline, “The Karen Read Case in Canton: The Killing That Tore a Town Apart.”

Voss and Read spent a lot of time together for the longform article, and the prosecutor wants the complete audio record of all their interviews. The prosecutor even wants “off the record” interview notes.

Brennan in the motion wrote that this is “not a fishing expedition.”

“The defendant has made tactical and repeated admissions outside of Court regarding her activities during the evening of January 28 and the early morning of January 29, 2022,” the prosecutor’s motion reads.

“The defendant’s statements to Voss are not protected by any privilege and there is no legal basis to limit the Commonwealth’s entitlement to all the defendant’s statements to Voss,” the motion adds.

The Norfolk DA’s Office has previously received the Voss/Read audio recordings with scores of redactions.

“Many of the redactions occurred during discussions and admissions pertaining to critical issues in this case,” the prosecutor wrote, citing a conversation about Read drinking alcohol on the night of the incident.

“Without the full unredacted audio of all the defendant and participant’s statements the Commonwealth will be unfairly blocked from obtaining and providing the jury relevant evidence that places the defendant’s admissions in full context,” the prosecutor added.

There is “nothing confidential” about Read’s media interviews with Voss and other outlets, the prosecutor wrote.

“When a defendant, assisted by her attorneys, deliberately undertakes a public relations campaign saturating the public with statements likely to reach the potential juror pool they also run the risk that statements may not be beneficial and be incriminatory,” Brennan added.

Read is accused of striking her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, with her car and leaving him to die in the cold.

She was charged in Norfolk Superior Court with second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter and leaving the scene of a collision causing death. Read was tried earlier this year, but that ended in mistrial after the jury indicated it was deadlocked.

The defense claims multiple jurors said they were only hung on the manslaughter charge and were ready to acquit on the others. Motions to drop the other two charges for the new trial were denied by Judge Beverly Cannone, but the defense has appealed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

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