Karen Read returns to court for wrongful death civil case

Karen Read was back in Massachusetts courtroom Monday for the first time since her criminal trial ended — and her defense declared that this time she won’t be “on the defensive.”

“We’re going to try to get the truth out there,” said Read’s attorney Alan Jackson outside the Plymouth County Superior Court. “Like I said, the days of her being on the defensive, those days are over.”

During a status hearing for the wrongful death civil case against Read, her defense indicated they plan to go on the offensive and file claims against 10 additional parties familiar from the criminal trial that they say aided a conspiracy against her.

Read is one of numerous parties already named in the civil suit filed by the family of her former boyfriend John O’Keefe, a Boston police officer she was accused of hitting with her car and leaving to die in 2022.

She was acquitted in June after her second trial of all charges related to the death of O’Keefe, except for operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, for which Read received a year of probation.

The 10 new parties Read’s attorneys aim to bring in with affirmative claims represent a who’s who of characters from the criminal trial.

They include the Massachusetts State Police for alleged negligent training and retention of troopers; Read’s former State Police investigators Lt. Brian Tully, Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik and Michael Proctor for civil rights violations; and the town of Canton for the local police department’s “negligent failure to secure the garage and sally port.”

Read’s team also told the court they intend to file civil rights and civil conspiracy claims against Brian Albert, Nicole Albert, Matthew McCabe, Jennifer McCabe and Brian Higgins, who were in the house O’Keefe was found outside of.

The potential claims relate to a conspiracy purported by Read’s defense, arguing other parties in the house were involved in O’Keefe’s death and a cover-up framed his then-girlfriend.

“We would be alleging the individuals in the house diverted attention away from themselves, towards Ms. Read,” said defense attorney Damon Seligson. “That law enforcement then acted on that diverted attention away from her, because the people in the house were either police or police adjacent who were socially and personally connected. Then they collectively conspired to ensure what happened in the house was not explored and investigated.”

Instead, Seligson alleged, Read was “wrongfully targeted, prosecuted, made to face two criminal trials for the death of John O’Keefe, and is now facing allegations of wrongful death, all stemming from the same claims.”

Judge Daniel O’Shea questioned the need to expand the wrongful death case, calling it a “rather extraordinary process.”

Seligson argued rather than filing a separate action against the additional parties, the claims “arrive out of the same facts” and would be a “streamlined approach.”

Attorneys for the plaintiff said Monday they were “absolutely not” aware of the defense’s intention to add 10 new defendants to the case.

The defense had not yet filed a motion to add the new parties Monday and were urged by the judge to do so before the next hearing in November.

Monday’s hearing also addressed additional issues including delays in discovery and motions to dismiss some claims against Read.

Motions to dismiss

Read’s defense moved to toss several counts of inflicting emotional distress on the O’Keefe family, noting the family was not present for the alleged incident in which the former Boston cop sustained deadly injuries.

The O’Keefes’ lawyer Marc Diller argued the circumstances around John O’Keefe’s death, as well as Read’s participation in intense media coverage after, met the “extreme and outrageous” bar for the emotional distress claim.

“Margaret and John have now buried two children,” said Diller. “Paul has buried all his siblings. The defendant always knew this. She has always known their vulnerability and actually creates a calculated and malicious campaign of disinformation designed to hide the truth.”

Diller noted a quote by the blogger Turtleboy — who he called “a reporter who (Read) asserts editorial control” — which stated, “The O’Keefe family’s period of grief has expired, and they are now fair game,” and leaked autopsy photos.

“Discovery will track how much leaked information the defendant should have known would result in distress to the O’Keefe family,” said Diller.

Following the hearing, Read’s attorney Jackson argued “every single word that you heard in there was basically parroted, right from Michael Morrissey, right from the prosecution.”

“Maybe somebody should check the tapes, because last time I checked, those arguments were put forward in front of a jury, and the jury spoke very, very loudly, ‘Not guilty,'” said Jackson. “And not just not guilty, when the jurors were asked, ‘Innocent.”

O’Shea said he will issue a decision on the motions to dismiss quickly ahead of the next hearing.

The judge suggested to all parties Monday it’s “worthy of exploring possible resolutions on your own” in the likely long, expensive and complicated case. He added that “realistically” a trial may not begin until 2027.

Jackson said the defense is “always open to resolution” and “it depends on how reasonable the other side is.”

The case will return to Plymouth Superior Court in Brockton on Nov. 21 for a status hearing.

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