The advanced saga surrounding the Karen Read homicide case entered unchartered waters Thursday when the protection argued communications from the U.S. Attorney’s workplace relating to the case be introduced out into the sunshine and the DA demanded a set of notes from a Boston scribe.
There was no consultant from the U.S. Attorney’s workplace in court docket Thursday earlier than Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone, however federal prosecutors in an earlier letter didn’t oppose a protection movement to launch numerous communications associated to the case. The launch of the paperwork was opposed by the Norfolk DA’s workplace.
The second movement was the prosecution’s movement to compel all recordings and notes from a Boston Magazine reporter for a narrative on Karen Read.
Cannone took the arguments underneath advisement however didn’t make any rulings in the course of the listening to.
Read, of Mansfield, is a monetary analyst and former adjunct professor in enterprise at Bentley University. She is charged with the homicide of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe — her boyfriend of two years on the time — by allegedly placing him together with her SUV exterior a Canton dwelling in late January 2022.
First argued a movement filed by Norfolk prosecutors to maintain eight letters indicating an investigation into the Norfolk District Attorney’s workplace underneath seal. Judge Cannone took a couple of minute break within the proceedings to assessment the letters and determine what components of them Read protection lawyer David Yannetti might reference when arguing why they need to be saved public.
“The commonwealth wants to keep those letters hidden because the letters contain content that will embarrass District Attorney (Michael) Morrissey and his office,” Yannetti mentioned.
A letter to Cannone dated Jan. 12 authored by Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Deitch for Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy states, “We appreciate the opportunity to be heard on this issue. Having reviewed all of the materials referenced above, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts do not object to public disclosure of the correspondence at issue in the pending motion.”
Yannetti, who appeared through Zoom with Read within the hybrid in-person and on-line listening to, additionally mentioned that the U.S. Attorney’s workplace disclosed in a convention name Wednesday “that not only is there an investigation in this case but that it is ongoing.”
He mentioned towards the shut of the hour-long listening to that extra data on the investigation is promised to be revealed inside weeks and he wants that full data to successfully argue for sanctions in opposition to Morrissey on the subsequent listening to on Feb. 15, throughout which he may also argue a movement to dismiss the case.
“The genie can not be put back into the bottle,” Yannetti mentioned. “Those letters are something we will use as evidence for motions.”
Lead prosecutor Adam Lally declined to rebut Yannetti’s arguments.
Next up was the movement to compel Boston Magazine reporter Gretchen Voss’ notes and recordings from her interviews with defendant Karen Read for her piece final 12 months, “The Karen Read Case in Canton: The Killing That Tore a Town Apart.”
Attorney Robert Bertsche was available for Metro Corp, the corporate that owns Boston Magazine, to argue that whereas the publication has no qualms about offering audio of the 2 on-the-record interviews with Read, the third interview was one other matter.
That third interview, he mentioned in his argument and in filed opposition paperwork, was carried out at Read’s dwelling and was fully off-the-record, with none of that materials making its manner into the journal’s prolonged piece.
He known as the movement a “fishing expedition,” including, “Their argument for more is that the article is such a goldmine that there must be more.”
He added that making a reporter hand over supply notes like that may have a chilling impact on journalists doing their job. He additionally mentioned that Voss’ security can be at stake as a result of she has skilled harassment and threats to her and her household the likes of which she had by no means skilled in her 25 years working in information and that handing over her notes might make it worse.
Prosecutor Lally mentioned that whereas such a “chilling effect” has been argued within the federal instances Bertsche cited in his arguments, Massachusetts has no such reporter privilege protections.
He mentioned Cannone ought to definitely weigh the potential risks Voss might face however that “those types of concerns yield to the prosecution of a criminal case” underneath legislation.
Bertsche mentioned that Metro Corp might present the audio from the 4-hour and 2-hour on-the-record Read interviews with redactions of off-the-record bits inside two weeks. He additionally argued that texts and voicemails between Voss and Read had been additionally promised as privileged and requested Cannone to additionally deny offering these to the commonwealth.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”