Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
DEDHAM, Mass (WBZ NewsRadio) — Karen Read trial Judge Beverly Cannone faces a lawsuit over her order reinstating and extending a buffer zone around the courthouse for the trial.
During Read's first trial for allegedly killing her Boston Police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe, Judge Cannone ordered a 200-foot buffer zone around the court. Read supporters frequently demonstrated outside of the court during the first trial and hearings leading up to the second trial, including the start of jury selection on Tuesday.
The commonwealth requested the buffer zone around Norfolk Superior Court be brought back and extended to ensure a fair trial. During the first trial, demonstrators could be heard inside the courtroom as they chanted or honked horns outside. Judge Cannone also ruled to prevent people from wearing any clothing or other items relating to the case inside the courtroom.
"People outside of this building have rights and we know that they have voices," Judge Cannone said during jury selection on Tuesday. "But this criminal trial will be decided by an independent jury."
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The lawsuit, filed by the Center for American Liberty and Randazza Legal Group on behalf of four pro-Karen Read demonstrators, argues the order approved by the judge is "vague, overbroad, and selectively enforced" and violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments by "criminalizes speech based on content, location, and viewpoint".
“Buffer zones that over-zealously prohibit all First Amendment activity are almost always unconstitutional and this one is no different,” Mark Trammell, Executive Director of the Center for American Liberty said in a statement. “The Karen Read trial continues to inspire passionate public debate—and citizens must be allowed to protest peacefully outside their own courthouse.”
The lawsuit seeks to block enforcement of the order. Judge Cannone, the Trial Court of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts State Police, the Dedham Police Department, and Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey are all named as defendants.
Jury selection in the second Karen Read murder trial continues Wednesday. So far two jurors have been seated.