Opening statements expected in Karen Read trial

Opening statements are expected Monday in the trial of Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman accused who is accused in the 2022 death of her Boston police officer boyfriend.

Jury selection for the high-profile trial began nearly two weeks ago.

Read, 43, of Mansfield, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and other charges. The prosecution says she hit her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with her vehicle outside of a home in Canton during a snowstorm on Jan. 29, 2022, following a night of drinking.

Her defense has long centered on allegations of a cover-up involving members of several law enforcement agencies. They claim O’Keefe was beaten inside the home, bitten by a dog, and then left outside.

Judge Beverly Cannone ruled Thursday that the defense will be allowed to argue that someone else killed O’Keefe, but not during opening statements.

Live updates:

• 9:40 a.m.: Jury arrives
• 9:39 a.m.: Read enters the courtroom with her attorneys and family members, who are wearing pink as a show of support
• 9:07 a.m.: Prosecutor Adam Lally arrives at the Norfolk Superior Courthouse. He will deliver the opening statement
• 8:36 a.m.: Troopers are posted along High Street. Read supporters are assembled outside of the buffer zone
• 6 a.m.: Local and national media is gathering outside the courthouse

What to know about the case:

• Karen Read, 43, of Mansfield, is accused of second-degree murder and other charges. The prosecution says she hit her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with her vehicle outside of a home in Canton during a snowstorm on Jan. 29, 2022, following a night of drinking. She has pleaded not guilty.
• Read and her defense team claim she is the victim of a cover-up and plan to present a third-party culprit defense. They claim O’Keefe was beaten inside the home, bitten by a dog, and then left outside.
• In pretrial motions, prosecutors revealed the existence of text messages they said suggested a “romantic entanglement” with a friend who was present at locations Read and O’Keefe visited on the night of the incident. Other documents have also suggested trouble in the relationship between Read and O’Keefe.
• Read is also accused of having frequent contact with a controversial blogger known as “Turtleboy,” Aiden Kearney, who now faces charges in related cases.
• The trial is expected to last 6-8 weeks once a jury is seated.

The jury selection process for the case spanned five days of work in the courtroom and resulted Wednesday in 19 jurors being selected from a total pool of 401 people. That number will likely be reduced to 16 before the jury is formally seated.

Last week, her attorneys filed a motion arguing that the current layout of the Norfolk County Superior Courtroom would violate her constitutional right to confrontation because several members of the jury will be unable to see the faces of witnesses. In a response filed Monday, the prosecution points out that the courtroom has been in use for over a century and is the largest in the county.

Cannone said Wednesday that it is her “firm conviction” that the current layout of the jury box is legal, but on Thursday, repeatedly indicated that the trial would move to the smaller courtroom.

According to court documents, prosecutors plan to call up to 87 witnesses during the trial. The defense plans to call up to 77. Some names appear on both lists.

Ahead of the trial, which has brought contentious debate and protest, the judge ordered a “buffer zone” around the courthouse. A justice of the Supreme Judicial Court upheld the decision, but that ruling is also under appeal, with the SJC agreeing to hear the case “on an expedited basis.”