Defense lawyers for Karen Reid, a Massachusetts woman accused of fatally stabbing her SUV cop boyfriend last year, insisted on Wednesday there was evidence someone else did the killing, but argued that Prosecutors withhold key information.
Reed’s lawyers said evidence from local animal control and mobile phone data would refute prosecutors’ version of events and blame friends of slain Boston cop John O’Keeffe, who they allege beat him to death and framed Reed for his crimes. . crime.
The motion for evidence is the latest twist in a breakneck Reed case that has been filled with heated arguments between prosecutors and the defense as conspiracy theories rage outside the courtroom.
Authorities say O’Keeffe was found dying in a snowdrift on January 29, 2022, near the driveway to a colleague’s house, which he had been drinking the night before. Police said O’Keeffe’s body was found by Reed the next morning, who was quickly named as a suspect in his death, and police accused her of stabbing him while drunk and leaving him for dead as she backed out of the driveway.
Reid was charged with second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter, and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.
Defense attorney David Jannetti insisted on Wednesday that prosecutors had “charged the wrong person,” saying authorities were hesitant to release more evidence because it would “stab the heart of this charge.”
Jannetty asked Judge Beverly Cannone to set a hard deadline for prosecutors to hand over the evidence they requested, but she has so far refused to do so. Instead, she scheduled a second hearing on the motions for May 25.
“We can’t take excuses anymore,” Jannetti said, pleading with Cannone. “We need the help of this court. We need you, Your Honor, to keep the prosecution in check with all due respect.”
Jannetty gave an extravagant alternative version of how O’Keeffe was killed. He began by arguing that O’Keeffe’s injuries did not match those of someone who got into a fight with his girlfriend before being fatally hit by an SUV, prosecutors allege.
Defense attorneys produced photographs of O’Keeffe’s hand, which showed scratches and cuts that Jannetty claimed were consistent with an animal attack. Ianetti then turned to the blunt force trauma to the head that O’Keeffe had sustained – which police and prosecutors allege was the result of being struck by Reed’s SUV.
Ianetti countered that the head injuries likely resulted from a fight at the home of co-worker Brian Albert. He also speculated that the “animal injuries” on O’Keeffe’s arm likely came from the same fight, as Albert, another police officer from Boston, had a “90 lb” German Shepherd that would have helped his owner in a fight.
“It felt like he could go 10 rounds with Mike Tyson,” Janetti said of O’Keeffe’s body, adding that he was found with two bruises under his eyes and lacerations over his eye and nose.
The defense also disputed another piece of evidence central to the prosecution, that Reed’s SUV had a taillight smashed when her SUV struck O’Keeffe.
Ianetti said the library security video that prosecutors released to the defense did not show the crucial moment Reed drove past on his way home from Albert’s house. If this happened, according to Ianetti, it would show that Reed did not yet have a broken taillight, suggesting that someone else manually broke it to frame her for O’Keeffe’s murder.
Overall, the defense petitioned for video footage from the Canton Public Library, O’Keeffe’s clothes he wore on the night of his death, evidence from Reid’s SUV, and DNA evidence from animal control that would show whether Albert’s German Shepherd was involved in the brutal crime. attack on O’Keeffe.
Jannetty described the missing evidence as “acquittal, perhaps the end of the case”.
The prosecutor’s office did not agree with almost all the claims put forward by Janetti in response. Norfolk Assistant District Attorney Adam S. Lull called the elaborate story and the defense’s motion for more evidence a “fishing expedition”.
“Defendant’s testimony is simply not sufficient to establish any relevance to your probative value of these tapes,” Lall said. “This is the epitome of a fishing expedition.”
Ianetti responded by mocking the prosecutors’ characterization, saying, “I think we’ve established that it’s not just fishing. We got hooked on a fish. We just need a court to help us figure it out.”
Reed, 43, remained stoic throughout Wednesday’s hearing but never spoke. She could face life in prison if found guilty on charges of second-degree murder.
Janetti asked the court to make a quick decision on the release of evidence, saying Reid is struggling to afford mounting legal and medical expenses as she lost her job last year due to murder charges.
Reid’s defense was complicated by a series of statements made the morning she found O’Keeffe in a snowdrift – repeatedly asking, “Could I have hit him? Did I hit him?”
The cops say she still had alcohol in her system when they took her blood the morning O’Keefe was found. Experts calculated that her blood alcohol level would have been “well above” the 0.08 legal driving limit when she was suspected of hitting O’Keeffe before driving home in “white blizzard” conditions.
Since then, the case around Reed has been full of unexpected twists and turns.
The shocking update came last month when defense attorneys said in a motion that Albert’s sister-in-law, Jennifer McCabe, did a Google search just hours before O’Keefe was found: “Ho[w] long to die in the cold.
Reid’s lawyers pointed to the macabre search as evidence that prosecutors were overlooking what actually happened the night O’Keeffe died.
“At the time, there was simply no innocent explanation for the search of McCabe,” the defense said in a statement. “This evidence unequivocally exonerates Karen as it establishes that the people at 34 Fairview that night knew that John was dying in the snow before Karen knew he was missing.”
A follow-up hearing is scheduled for May 25, at which Cannon is expected to approve or deny the defense’s motions for additional evidence.
