Karen Read defense cannot argue Colin Albert could have killed John O'Keefe, judge rules
The judge in Karen Read's murder trial has ruled that her attorneys cannot argue that Colin Albert could have been one of the men responsible for John O'Keefe's death as part of their third-party culprit defense.
Read is accused of hitting and killing O'Keefe, her Boston police officer boyfriend, with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow in 2022 after a night of drinking. She argues that she is being framed by several people, including law enforcement.
During her first trial, which resulted in a mistrial due to a hung jury, Read's attorneys claimed that Colin Albert, Brian Higgins, and Brian Albert were the three men who could have killed O'Keefe during a fight inside Brian Albert's Canton home, then dragged his body outside. All three testified during trial.
Colin Albert ruling
Ahead of Read's second trial, which starts with jury selection on Tuesday, prosecutors had filed a motion to prohibit the defense from making a third-party culprit defense involving the three men. On Monday, Judge Beverly Cannone ruled that Read's attorneys can make their case against Brian Higgins and Brian Albert, but not Colin Albert.
Colin Albert is the nephew of Brian Albert, who is a retired Boston police officer.
"As to Colin Albert, the defendant's proffer contains no additional evidence than that presented at the first trial, and it is insufficient to support a preliminary finding that Colin Albert had the motive, intent, and opportunity to commit the crime," Cannone wrote in her ruling.
Related to Higgins and Brian Albert, Cannone wrote that the defense's argument to allow their testimony is "barely sufficient, and the history of the first trial casts doubt on the seriousness of the claim."
Read's attorneys will not be allowed to name Higgins and Brian Albert as alternate suspects during their opening statements.
Additional Karen Read rulings
Additional rulings from Judge Cannone are shaping Read's retrial one day before jury selection begins.
On Monday, Cannone ruled that certain testimony of a defense expert will not be allowed at trial. The defense wants to call Michael Easter, a retired FBI agent, to testify in part to why it's his professional opinion that a police investigation into the death of O'Keefe was not done according to law enforcement standards.
Prosecutors asked for this testimony to be kept out of trial, which Judge Cannone approved. In a written opinion, she said jurors were qualified to determine whether they believe an investigation was done according to standards after hearing several police witnesses and cross examination.
It's unclear if Easter will still take the stand to testify to other issues on behalf of the defense. According to Easter's biography, he is also an expert in cellphone analysis and location data.
A filling in court on Monday revealed that both prosecutors and defense attorneys combined could call as many as 150 witnesses in the second trial.
