Karen Read’s formidable defense team is all set to dismantle the prosecution’s murder case against her, following the state wrapping up its arguments this week.
Read faces accusations of murdering her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, near a friend’s party just after midnight on January 29, 2022.
The prosecution claims that, in a drunken frenzy after an evening filled with disputes, Read hit O’Keefe with her 2021 Lexus SUV and abandoned him to succumb to the cold in the front yard at 34 Fairview Road.
“The prosecutor has made her into a self-absorbed caricature,” Lu told Fox News Digital, adding, “They must get into the hatred of her by [former investigator] Michael Proctor.”
Proctor is on the witness list, but it remains unclear whether the defense will put him on the stand. Prosecutors did not call him this time around after his testimony in the first trial saw jurors shaking their heads as they heard his inappropriate texts about Read in court. The case ended in a mistrial, and he lost his job days before the second trial kicked off.
Read has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, she faces the possibility of life in prison for the most serious charge of second-degree murder.
“Right now Ms. Read’s legal case is badly wounded,” Lu said. “Mr. Yannetti has the ability to charm the jury, fight the judge as needed, present the defense witnesses – some of whom are hostile – and in closing, inspire the jury.”
