Special prosecutor in ‘Turtleboy’ case wants to search Karen Read’s phones
The retired judge prosecuting Aidan Kearney , the blogger known as "Turtleboy," is asking to go through two phones used by Karen Read as he seeks potential evidence that Read conspired with Kearney to intimidate witnesses in her criminal case.
Special prosecutor Robert Cosgrove, in a motion filed in Norfolk Superior Court, indicated he intended for a new search to be done of two phones belonging to Read.
Cosgrove is seeking to assemble a "Taint Team" to search Read's phones, comprised of a forensic examiner and a judge. His filing asks a Superior Court judge to order Read to turn over passwords for the phones, and to provide details of how she communicated with her lawyers so those messages aren't swept up in the search.
It's not the first time Norfolk County prosecutors have sought to indict Read on charges of witness intimidation and conspiracy to commit witness intimidation. Sometime before Read's first trial, which began in 2024, prosecutors empaneled a grand jury to hear evidence on those charges.
But the grand jury did not return an indictment against Read, Alan Jackson, her lead defense attorney, noted at a pre-trial hearing ahead of Read's second trial.
"There was no evidence that she was responsible for intimidation or harassment," Jackson said.
Read and Kearney communicated often ahead of her first trial, initially through an intermediary, then directly. Kearney was among the loudest champions of the theory put forward by Read's defense team that she was being framed for the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe.
Attorney Steven Boozang, who Read hired to represent her after her acquittal on charges connected to O'Keefe's death, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Boozang told MassLive in August that he intended to file a motion seeking the return of the two phones Cosgrove is now attempting to have searched.
No such motion has been docketed as of Monday morning.
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