DEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) – The judge in the Karen Read case will allow two crash experts to testify in the retrial, after prosecutors argued they should be excluded because they were paid by the defense.
In a court hearing Tuesday, Judge Beverly Cannone began by admonishing the defense for not being candid with the court about the two ARCAA accident reconstruction witnesses, saying it was a deliberate material misrepresentation.
The two experts were originally hired by the federal government as part of a separate investigation, which has since been closed with no charges brought. It was revealed the defense had paid them nearly $24,000 after the mistrial was declared in July, which was unknown to the court until recently.
Cannone was stern with the defense, focusing on attorney Alan Jackson. She said she was considering sanctions.
“Candor with the court is essential. It’s the bedrock obligation of all lawyers who appear in this court and all courts in Massachusetts. A lawyer is only as good as his or her word, and I need to be able to take counsel at their word. So, I’m not going to tolerate false statements, any stretching of the truth, no misleading distortions,” she said.
“There’s no place for that in the courtroom, and Mr. Jackson, you stated this very eloquently in your closing argument last time,” Cannone continued.
After speaking to Read at the sidebar, Cannone cited a defendant’s right to a fair trial, which includes choosing her own lawyers. Read said she wanted to keep her defense team in place, including Jackson.
Cannone declined to kick any lawyers off of the team nor suspend any licenses to practice in Massachusetts.
Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, in 2022. Prosecutors say she hit him with her SUV and left him to die in the snow outside a Canton home. Read’s lawyers say she is being framed.
The defense also asked Cannone to delay the start of the retrial, set to begin in April,…