Photo: WBZ NewsRadio
DEDHAM, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — A federal judge denied a request Friday from Karen Read's defense to delay her second murder trial, scheduled for April 1, by a few weeks. This comes a day after the request was denied in state court on Thursday.
Read's lawyers argued for the delay because they are waiting on a federal appeal to have two of the three charges against her dropped. During Thursday's pre-trial hearing in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Judge Beverly Cannone denied the request, saying it would take too long to assemble more prospective jurors.
“We’re going to start impaneling on April 1. It will likely take a while. If we get a jury before April 25 I’ll rehear you on your motion. We won’t swear the jury because obviously that’s when jeopardy attaches and we will take it from there," Cannone said.
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Also on Friday, prosecutors filed a motion in Norfolk Superior Court to compel cell phone communications between Read and her attorney, David Yannetti, from the days right after the body of Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe was found in the snow.
In a court filing, the Commonwealth argued that Read has already waived her attorney-client privilege for communications from Jan. 29, 2022 to Feb. 2, 2022 "relative to any statements about her collision with John O'Keefe."
Citing interviews Read had done with the media, prosecutors wrote that the "communications, confirmed by the defendant to exist, are no longer privileged, nor confidential because the defendant chose to widely and publicly disseminate them."
Read is accused of hitting O'Keefe, her then-boyfriend, with her SUV and leaving him for dead in the snow in Canton in 2022.