Judge admonishes attorneys in Karen Read civil case over "malicious publication of private information"

The judge overseeing the wrongful death civil case that John O'Keefe's family filed against Karen Read admonished more than a dozen lawyers involved in the case on Wednesday.

Judge Mark Gildea ordered a last minute hearing in Plymouth Superior Court and required most of the attorneys involved in the case – 18 in total – to appear in person. Read also appeared in person with her parents.

Alan Jackson was among the 18 lawyers present, having flown in from California for the hearing.

The judge gave the lawyers a stern warning for 20 minutes, and accused them of leaking private information in the case to people who then posted it on social media.

The issue stems from a June 8 hearing in which fired state trooper Michael Proctor, who is a witness in the case, attempted to delay his deposition for personal reasons.

As part of his attempt to delay the hearing, certain materials including medical information were submitted to the court under seal – meaning they were not part of the public record and were only accessible by lawyers and parties to the case.

"The law has become a spectacle"

The judge claimed that 30 minutes after a private email with these documents went out to parties in the case, someone posted information from the documents on X.

"The malicious publication of private information concerns me," Judge Gildea said, noting that "the courtroom has become content, and the law has become a spectacle."

As a result, Proctor's deposition has been temporarily delayed, but the judge is willing to permanently hold his deposition if the lawyers don't reach some kind of agreement among themselves, with the judge's approval, to prevent future leaks.

All of the lawyers and parties submitted sworn statements to the judge saying they were not the cause nor did they have knowledge of the leak.

"Whatever opinion one may have of a non-party, even if warranted, such opinion does not allow for the disparate treatment of such individual," Gildea said.

The judge then reminded all of the lawyers of the Massachusetts ethics rules for lawyers, which discourages speaking to the media if it will prejudice an ongoing case.

"It is difficult to strike a balance between the right to a fair trial and the right to free expression," Gildea said. "However I'm not so sure that churning the waters to generate social media coverage necessarily can result in a legitimate interest in the conduct of judicial proceeding."

"Do not succumb to the attraction of seeking to influence this case through social media. Be what a trial lawyer should be: one that tries their case in the courtroom," he warned.

Alan Jackson declines comment

With that, the judge left the bench, taking no comment or questions from the lawyers present. Attorneys for Karen Read, namely Alan Jackson, asked the clerk to go back into the judge's chambers to see if they could be heard. The clerk came back out and said the judge had declined. 

Lawyers not connected to this case told WBZ-TV that a required in-person hearing in which lawyers aren't given an opportunity to be heard, but rather are lectured by a judge, is extremely unusual.

Outside of court, perhaps unsurprisingly, neither lawyers for the O'Keefes – who were not present – nor Read's attorneys gave comment to reporters. 

"I think now would not be a good time for a comment so I'm going to reserve all comment, is that good?" Jackson told WBZ-TV. "I'm going to reserve comment. Nice try. I don't think we have any choice."

The next hearing in the case will be on July 10. That hearing will deal with motions to compel depositions. Read's team says that certain witnesses in the case – including the McCabe and Albert families, and Trooper Brian Tully – are dodging depositions by their team.