Karen Read's second trial set to start in Massachusetts with several changes
Karen Read's high profile second trial is set to start on Tuesday with jury selection. The trial is taking place in the same courtroom, with the same judge, and the same county of potential jurors.
WBZ Legal Analyst Katherine Loftus says that is not uncommon, especially since no lawyers on either side requested a change of venue.
"The defense definitely does not want a change of venue," she said. "They want to make sure it's a Norfolk County case with a Norfolk County jury because this is where it's happening and Canton Police Department, State Police... Everything has happened in Norfolk County."
Read is accused of hitting and killing John O'Keefe, her Boston police officer boyfriend, with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow in 2022 after a night of drinking. She argues that she is being framed by several people, including law enforcement.
There will be several changes to the second trial from the first though.
Jury selection
Pretrial publicity will make it harder for find a jury. For Read's first trial, over 400 jurors were interviewed for 19 spots. Given Read's media interviews since her first trial and recent documentary release, both the judge and Loftus predict jury selection will be extensive.
"The question is not whether you've heard about the case it's whether despite hearing about the case whether you can be fair and impartial, and those are the details that the judge and the attorneys for both sides are going to have to dig into," Loftus said.
New prosecutor for Commonwealth
There is a new prosecutor on the case. Hank Brennan, a private defense attorney best known for representing Whitey Bulger, is now acting as a special prosecutor hired by the Norfolk DA's office, replacing Adam Lally as lead prosecutor on the case. "I think, for the Commonwealth is going to make an enormous difference. I don't know that I could underestimate how big of a change," Loftus said.
There are two new defense attorneys. One is Robert Alessi, who has argued many pretrial motions. The other is Victoria George, a former alternate juror from Read's first trial who is now serving as one of Read's lawyers. Loftus doesn't predict either will play a pivotal role in examining witnesses and believes David Yannetti and Alan Jackson will handle most of the witness testimony, just like in the first trial.
Impact of Michael Proctor being fired
Michael Proctor has been fired. The former lead investigator on the case was recently fired from the Mass. State Police.
Loftus believes this will bolster the defense's Bowden defense, which is when the defense presents a case arguing that the police investigation into John O'Keefe's death was insufficient.
Third-party culprit theory
The defense's "third-party culprit" theory will not include Colin Albert and will be far more limited than the first trial. Albert, who was a teenager at the time of O'Keefe's death, was one of three suspects named by the defense as possible suspects other than Karen Read. On Monday, the judge ruled that his name cannot be used as a third-party culprit due to insufficient evidence that he was even in the immediate area at the time of the crime. The judge also indicated she will limit the testimony about defense third party culprits Brian Albert and Brian Higgins due to limited evidence supporting the theory.
The trial could last just as long as the first, which lasted nearly 10 weeks before it ended in a mistrial. The potential witness list has 150 names on it. Prosecutors have estimated their case could take four to five weeks, and defense attorneys estimate two weeks.
Jury selection begins Tuesday April 1.