Lawyers on both sides of Karen Read’s case have asked for her new trial to be delayed by three months, as prosecutors said they want to re-test evidence and prepare to call new witnesses.
Read, 44, is scheduled to face trial a second time in the case accusing her of drunkenly backing her SUV over her Boston cop boyfriend John O’Keefe in January 2022 and leaving him to die in the snow.
Her retrial is scheduled for Jan. 27 after the first one ended with a hung jury over the summer.
However, on Monday prosecutors filed a motion — with Read’s consent — asking Norfolk County Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone to push the new trial back to April 1.
Special Assistant District Attorney Hank Brennan said in the two-page filing that the office plans to “re-test forensic evidence” and call new expert witnesses “that did not testify at the first trial” — all of which will take time to prepare.
Read’s team said it will then “need time to consider and potentially respond” to it “possibly with additional experts of its own,” the filing says.
Cannone must still sign off on the request for postponement — which she is likely to do given both sides have agreed to it.
Read faces charges of second-degree murder, leaving the scene of a death and manslaughter in the slaying of O’Keefe — to which she has adamantly maintained her innocence.
The trial ended with a deadlocked jury on July 1 in the case that garnered a cult-like following of supporters for Read’s innocence.
Read’s lawyers told the jury that their client was the victim of a law enforcement cover-up to hide that O’Keefe was actually killed in a fight with his cop buddies after Read dropped him off in at the Canton, Mass. home of cop Brian Albert.
Judge Cannone denied Read’s bid to have dismissed the counts of murder and leaving the scene of a death on the grounds that several jurors allegedly came forward to the defense team claiming they actually meant to acquit Read on those charges.
The prosecutor’s office and Read’s lawyers both didn’t immediately return requests for comment Tuesday morning.
