In a last-minute filing on Friday, Special Prosecutor HANK BRENNAN requested the court to prevent the defense team of KAREN READ from attributing the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend, JOHN O’KEEFE, to fellow officers or a police dog during opening statements next week. The retrial is set to begin after Read’s first trial ended in a hung jury last year.
In a concise two-sentence motion, BRENNAN argued that the defense’s plan to present photos of injuries to O’Keefe’s right arm could violate a prior court order. The order prohibits the defense from implicating third parties in O’Keefe’s death without first establishing admissible evidence. “The Commonwealth moves for an order that defense counsel refrain from claiming in their opening statement that any of the victim’s injuries were caused by any person or animal that was inside the home at 34 Fairview Road,” BRENNAN wrote.
Prosecutors allege that O’Keefe died outside a Canton, Massachusetts, home on January 29, 2022, following an after-party attended by law enforcement colleagues and their spouses. Read is accused of striking O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV during a drunken argument and leaving the scene. His body was discovered on the front lawn of fellow Boston Police Officer BRIAN ALBERT, who owned a German shepherd named Chloe.
O’Keefe’s cause of death was determined to be severe head trauma and hypothermia, though he also sustained injuries to his hands and right arm. The defense has suggested that these injuries could have been caused by a dog bite, a claim the prosecution seeks to block without proper evidentiary support.
The motion follows a recent ruling by Judge BEVERLY CANNONE, who denied a prosecution request to exclude a defense expert on dog bites. However, the judge partially granted a defense motion to limit testimony from a prosecution expert on the same topic. Dr. JAMES CROSBY, the prosecution’s expert, will be allowed to testify generally about dog bites but cannot specifically exclude Chloe as a potential cause of O’Keefe