DEDHAM – Karen Reed's defense team said Tuesday that federal experts say her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, hit by an SUV As Massachusetts prosecutors claim.What to read be charged with murder O'Keefe during a snowstorm in January 2022.
Reed has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and claimed he was framed. victim of cover-up.
O'Keefe was found dead outside her home in Canton after spending the night with friends. Prosecutors allege that Mr. Reed was driving drunk and struck and killed Mr. O'Keefe with his SUV. But the defense contends that O'Keefe was beaten inside the house and then left outside in the snow.
Allegations of misconduct
The judge heard arguments from both sides at a hearing Tuesday in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham.
The judge is considering a defense motion to dismiss the charges and a separate motion to sanction and disqualify the Norfolk District Attorney's Office from the case.
The defense accused the district attorney of prosecutorial misconduct.
federal investigation
In February, the U.S. Attorney's Office submitted more than 3,000 pages of documents related to its investigation into the case. Defense attorney Alan Jackson said in court Tuesday that the documents included information that federal investigators were hiring reconstruction experts.
“Federal investigators, independent of us, of no knowledge to us, and independent of the federation, are working with three Ph.D.s who are professional reconstructionists to investigate this matter accurately. ,” Jackson said. “Did Karen Reed's SUV make contact with John O'Keefe? And for some, their conclusion was that his injuries were inconsistent with the damage to the car. The damage to the car was consistent with John O'Keefe's body. In other words, the car didn't hit him and he wasn't hit by the car. ”
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Jackson argued that the integrity of the case was compromised by the personal relationships between those who lived at the crime scene and the responding officers.
Prosecutors claim “defense by obfuscation''
In response, prosecutor Adam Lally accused Jackson of a “defense by obfuscation” and “essentially a three-card Monte card trick.”
“What the defense is obfuscating is the overwhelming evidence presented to the grand jury from numerous sources: 42 individual witnesses, 56 exhibits, and more than 1,400 pages of records, including the defendant's “Reed killed John O'Keefe,” Larry said.
When does Karen Reed's trial start?
The judge has not yet ruled on the motion and has heard arguments on an advised basis.
The case's trial was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, but was previously postponed to April 16.
