John O'Keefe's family drops motion to prevent Karen Read from getting cell phones back

The family of the late Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe has dropped its motion to prevent Karen Read from getting her two cell phones back.

A judge in Plymouth, Massachusetts was expected to hear heated arguments between lawyers for Read and the O'Keefe family over the cell phones. The Norfolk County District Attorney's Office has had the phones for two years.

But instead, court proceedings began with both sides speaking privately with the judge at sidebar, followed by a recess. After about an hour, the judge announced the two parties had reached an agreement.

"The parties have agreed to act in an expedited fashion toward either reaching a stipulation or some agreement as to how to deal with the issue for the phones on or before that they get released back into the custody of Karen Read," O'Keefe family lawyer Marc Diller said.

On February 23, lawyers for the O'Keefe family filed a motion seeking an emergency temporary restraining order in their civil case to prevent the phones from being returned to Read. The O'Keefes are suing Read for wrongful death and infliction of emotional distress.

Days earlier, on February 19, Read appeared in court in Dedham asking a judge to order the phones returned. Her attorneys argued prosecutors failed to obtain a search warrant to examine the devices while investigating alleged witness intimidation.

A grand jury declined to indict Read on that charge in 2024, though the matter appears to remain under investigation.

After learning of the request, attorneys for the O'Keefe family intervened, asking the court to preserve the phones. They said the devices could contain evidence relevant to their claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress.

In their filing, the family's lawyers cited a quote they say came from Read during a secretly recorded phone call with blogger Aidan Kearney, also known as "Turtleboy." Kearney is facing several witness intimidation charges connected to the case.

According to the filing, Read can be heard saying: "I'm dead. I'm f*****g dead. Do you have any clue what's on the phone that they took?"

Read's attorneys strongly dispute that claim. In court filings, they called it a "serious fabrication of evidence" and asked the judge to sanction Diller, the O'Keefe family's attorney.

Read's legal team, led by defense attorney Alan Jackson, also argued the recording itself was illegal. They say Read was simply expressing frustration that Kearney had "put her in that situation 'Again. A-f**king-gain.'"

Diller acknowledged on Friday that he was wrong.

"I was mistaken when I interpreted her words to say, 'I'm dead. I'm f*****g dead,'' he said.

Jackson said he's confident that Read will get her phones back once the appeals process is complete and called for "honesty" in the process.

"She never made the comment that was attributed to her and to have that acknowledged in open court, that's all we wanted," he said.