Karen Read hearing delayed as judge urges both sides to resolve evidence dispute
The judge specially assigned to the wrongful death lawsuit against Karen Read delayed a hearing scheduled for Friday as he pressed lawyers on both sides of the lawsuit to communicate better to whittle down their disagreements.
Judge Mark Gildea also denied a request from Read’s team to hold the hearing in-person. Read’s team had suggested “an in-person hearing will be significantly more helpful to the Court in rendering its decisions on the pending motions,” noting that three motions to compel evidence are pending in the wrongful death suit.
In his order, Gildea wrote, “The court appreciates counsel’s concern but hopes to be up to the task at hand.”
“What would ‘be significantly more helpful to the Court’ is for the attorneys to communicate further to narrow any areas of disagreement before any hearing,” he wrote, quoting the filing from Read’s defense.
The family of Read’s boyfriend, Boston Police officer John O’Keefe, sued her last year after her first murder trial ended in a mistrial, accusing her, as state prosecutors did, of causing O’Keefe’s death by running him over with her SUV. In June, Read was acquitted of all criminal charges connected with O’Keefe’s death following a retrial.
The order issued by Gildea on Wednesday comes after a series of filings from lawyers for the O’Keefe family and for Read’s team indicated significant disagreements about evidentiary issues — and an apparent unwillingness to cooperate.
Lawyers for the family asked Gildea to force Read to provide a more thorough answer to an interrogatory they sent to her lawyers . An interrogatory is essentially a formal question that a party in a lawsuit must provide an answer to under oath.
While Read and her lawyers have claimed for years that someone other than her was responsible for O’Keefe’s death, she has never spoken under oath about the events leading up to his death. Read did not testify at either of her criminal trials.
In the interrogatory, O’Keefe’s family sought more evidence to substantiate those third-party culprit claims. But the family indicated it was unsatisfied with Read’s answer, and with a supplemental answer her team provided. Read’s team attempted to set up a conference with the family’s lawyers, but were turned down, according to court filings.
Read’s filings show a “concerning claimed unwillingness on the part of plaintiffs’ counsel to narrow areas of disagreement,” Gildea wrote.
Still, he derided the claim from Read’s team that they didn’t know the issues the family’s lawyers had with her supplemental answer as “disingenuous.”
“I believe that counsel for all involved have not made sufficient attempts to narrow areas of disagreement,” Gildea wrote, ordering the hearing rescheduled for Jan. 6 at 11 a.m. “It is hoped that the additional time will result in a narrowing of areas of disagreement.”
Karen Read wrongful death lawsuit
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