Karen Read attorney Alan Jackson says BPD Commish Michael Cox 'caught in a lie'
Published in News & Features
The Karen Read fallout continues — and its ripple effects are spreading beyond Canton into Boston City Hall.
Read’s attorney in a blistering letter to Mayor Michelle Wu is slamming Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox for being “caught in a lie” about ex-cop Kelly Dever, a controversial witness in the murder trial.
Read’s lawyer Alan Jackson in the bombshell missive to Wu is calling for Cox to be placed on the Suffolk DA’s list of officers with credibility issues — known as the Brady list.
Also, Jackson in the letter to the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission, wants the POST Commission to launch a disciplinary investigation into Cox.
“This is not a political issue. It is a question of credibility and public trust,” Jackson wrote in Monday’s letter. “When Boston’s top law-enforcement officer lies about his own knowledge of a case under federal scrutiny, the stain spreads across the entire system. Accountability cannot stop at the Commissioner’s door.
“The people of Massachusetts deserve law enforcement leaders who tell the truth — not those who hide behind it,” the attorney added. “In light of the documented evidence now in the public record, there is only one responsible course: Add Commissioner Cox to the Brady list and open an immediate POST inquiry.”
Dever was working as a patrol officer in Canton when Read’s Boston police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe, died in the early morning of Jan. 29, 2022.
Dever then joined the Boston Police Department, and she became a household name for Read trial watchers when she testified in the retrial earlier this year.
Jackson brought Dever to the stand, questioning her over how she initially told federal investigators that she saw witness Brian Higgins and then-Canton Police Chief Kenneth Berkowitz enter the police department garage and spend a “wildly long time” with Read’s SUV.
This gave credence to the defense’s theory that police tampered with evidence, including the busted taillight, pieces of which were later found at the crime scene.
Dever said she later recanted this statement as a “false memory” after being shown a timeline of events that proved that it wasn’t possible.
Following the Read retrial, Cox told reporters that he “didn’t know” that one of his officers was associated with the Read case, contradicting Dever who testified in the retrial that he told her to “tell the truth up here.”
Cox also said he had “nothing to do with Karen Read,” denying accusations from the defense that he influenced Dever’s testimony.
During her direct examination, Dever testified that Cox called her into his office and that the commissioner told her the department would support her and to tell the truth.
“As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know this person was associated with the Karen Read case,” Cox told reporters this summer. “You know, I have an organization full of over 3,000 people, and we support all our folks.
“And the reality is that I get information passed on, whether those people are high or low, and I encourage everyone,” the commissioner added. “And if you’re going to work here and you belong here, then we’re going to encourage you. I have no idea what they’re talking about with Karen Read.”
Now, Read’s attorney is pointing to newly obtained evidence that allegedly proves “Cox knowingly misrepresented his involvement.”
Back on Feb. 22, 2024, the FBI’s Boston Field Office reportedly sent Cox an email that references Dever and the Read investigation.
“Just a reminder, the documents were released to the DA’s office late last night. The officer we spoke about is Kelly Dever,” reads the email from FBI Boston Assistant Special Agent in Charge Stephen Kelleher.
The day after that email, Cox’s official calendar lists a meeting with Dever, according to Jackson.
“Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox has been caught in a lie — and not a small one,” Jackson wrote in the letter to Wu and the POST Commission.
“When a police commissioner lies about his own contacts with the FBI and meetings with an implicated officer, he forfeits the credibility and integrity his oath requires,” the lawyer later added. “That is the very definition of a Brady-Giglio violation. Under Brady v. Maryland and Giglio v. United States, prosecutors have an affirmative duty to disclose any evidence of dishonesty by a government witness or official in every case where the official might either testify, or influence the testimony or evidence provided by others. Commissioner Cox now fits squarely within that category.”
Jackson added that the POST Commission needs to review Cox for “dishonesty, lack of candor, and conduct unbecoming an officer.”
Dever recently resigned from BPD.
BPD, the mayor’s office and the POST Commission did not immediately respond to comment about Jackson’s letter.
Norfolk DA prosecutors accused Read of backing up into O’Keefe, her boyfriend of two years, with her SUV, leaving him to freeze and die on the front yard of a Canton home where the pair was supposed to continue a night out after the bars closed that cold, snowy early January morning.
The jury cleared Read of killing O’Keefe, convicting her of just drunken driving.
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