NOT GUILTY MA - Professor Karen Read, 43, charged with murdering police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe by hitting him with car, Canton, 14 Apr 2023 #38 Retrial

[HarmonyE.]

Today Attorney Rosemary Scapiccio got high praise from Melanie Little and Peter @ LYK said RS gets a "chef's kiss".

She was the defense attorney who finally got justice for Sean Ellis. I'm not sure if Trial 4 is still available on Netflix but I highly recommend.

 

[Izzylizzy]

She was the defense attorney who finally got justice for Sean Ellis. I'm not sure if Trial 4 is still available on Netflix but I highly recommend.

Thank you!
I remember when he was exonerated and just looked and saw the $16 million dollar bitter-sweet settlement the CW paid him.
I'm going to read up on Attorney Rosemary Scapiccio's defense of Sean Ellis and look for the documentary.
I also want to see if any Boston officers, prosecutors, DA etc. were ever held accountable for their corruption.

“I may be wounded,
but I’m not broken.”

— Sean K. Ellis | Advocate for criminal justice reform

 

[waldojabba]

The matter of Higgins meeting up with an FBI friend who helped him extract items off his phone is pretty suspicious. What did he have extracted? Not to mention the presence of his lawyer by his side at the first trial. I definitely think there was more to Higgins' involvement than meets the eye, BUT, I want to respect Karen's privacy in this instance too.

I think perhaps Higgins was involved with “extra curricular” activities related to his ATF position.
Lots of things to hide that were not KR related.
JMO

 

[Luna20]

I looked at it more like booking off to a country with no extradition treaty. s/

He’s been re-homed like Chloe. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put Chloe down.

 

[louvillian08]

Beyond the Karen Read Verdict: DA Michael Morrissey and the Scandal Still Haunting Massachusetts

Karen Read case insiders speak on the DA who unsuccessfully tried her, the federal investigation, and the other death scandal in Norfolk County that will “make your blood boil.”

www.vanityfair.com

 

[Derph]

The tendrils of porctor reach far and the fallout will continue until morale improves!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1948817845418115287

 

[Forest_Wood]

Good article about the problem with the DA's office as well as the MSP.

Beyond the Karen Read Verdict: DA Michael Morrissey and the Scandal Still Haunting Massachusetts

Karen Read case insiders speak on the DA who unsuccessfully tried her, the federal investigation, and the other death scandal in Norfolk County that will “make your blood boil.”

www.vanityfair.com

It puts their ineptness into perspective when you see more cases they messed up.

While Rollins would not comment on the federal investigation, she has thoughts on special prosecutor Brennan’s assertion this March that the investigation is over.

“Hank Brennan is not a member of the Department of Justice. His statement that the investigation is closed is meaningless,” she says. “The silence of the federal government can be just that, silence and inaction because they have closed an investigation and will never tell the public, or DOJ in stealth mode putting the finishing touches on arrest and search warrants and editing press releases before the impending press conference. You never know until it happens. Or doesn’t.”

 

[Younger Sister]

A social worker and soccer coach, I think this juror was part of a gossipy "group chat," and she got caught confirming said gossip. A 'nothingburger' where the punishment fit the crime-- but sent a message to others. JMO

Grand juror in Karen Read case charged with leaking information

Federal prosectors said the grand juror disclosed the names of witnesses.

abcnews.go.com

7/15/25

Leslie agreed to a sentence of incarceration for one day, deemed served, and 24 months of supervised release, court records said.

A plea hearing was not immediately scheduled.

Federal prosecutors did not say how they learned Leslie had disclosed secret grand jury information, but sources said authorities had been monitoring social media accounts and other communications during a case that received widespread attention.

Sounds like she is just another “Normal Mom” like Jen McCabe IMO.

 

[Warwick7]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1949915958832726504

 

[HarmonyE.]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1949915958832726504

Wait, Lally hasn't responded? Shocking, I tell ya.

Give the woman back her property, lozzahs!

 

[MerlinFalcon]

These people are obscene. They know how high profile this case is yet don’t care how bad they look. Her car is obviously trashed and who knows what Proctor did to her phone but those things should have been returned to her. Her lawyer shouldn’t have to beg.

 

[Derph]

Transparency only works when way up there I guess.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1949896146085933115

 

[Forest_Wood]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1949915958832726504

Amazing to me that she has to request through court the return of her belongings!

 

[Lilibet]

Amazing to me that she has to request through court the return of her belongings!

Not amazing to me! We were victims of a burglary decades ago. The stolen items were recovered and held as evidence. The burglars took a plea deal so there was never a trial. It took months of pestering for us to get our possessions back. I think my very firm letter to the D.A. finally did the trick. The irony was that it was my sleuthing that solved the case for them (long story)!

 

[TristanP]

The matter of Higgins meeting up with an FBI friend who helped him extract items off his phone is pretty suspicious. What did he have extracted? Not to mention the presence of his lawyer by his side at the first trial. I definitely think there was more to Higgins' involvement than meets the eye, BUT, I want to respect Karen's privacy in this instance too.

The way I understand it, BH likely did a full extraction of his phone, but then cherry-picked the information he wanted to turn over (his texts with Karen).

I recall hearing, but cannot source, that what he did was technically illegal (something along the lines of improper use of government equipment, but I don't recall the exact terminology), and that was likely why he had an attorney.

However, considering he was a witness in the trial and the defense was outright stating they believed he was involved in causing the death of JOK would have been reason enough to have an attorney.

My hope is that because he was ATF, he had superiors that prevented him from brazenly not doing his job properly like all of the MSP, but who knows? He was besties with the police chief who was letting Canton cops, so he may have been involved in all kinds of shady things.

 

[HarmonyE.]

The way I understand it, BH likely did a full extraction of his phone, but then cherry-picked the information he wanted to turn over (his texts with Karen).

I recall hearing, but cannot source, that what he did was technically illegal (something along the lines of improper use of government equipment, but I don't recall the exact terminology), and that was likely why he had an attorney.

However, considering he was a witness in the trial and the defense was outright stating they believed he was involved in causing the death of JOK would have been reason enough to have an attorney.

My hope is that because he was ATF, he had superiors that prevented him from brazenly not doing his job properly like all of the MSP, but who knows? He was besties with the police chief who was letting Canton cops, so he may have been involved in all kinds of shady things.

He used high tech government equipment for personal reasons. It's illegal, but even if charges aren't ever brought it's clearly grounds for termination. Working for a government agency doesn't give you the right to waltz into headquarters and use their assets for person gain of any sort.

There have been rumors that he's been looking for jobs, but no one seems to know for sure if/when he lost his ATF position.

 

[Izzylizzy]

Today

 

[Seattle1]

The way I understand it, BH likely did a full extraction of his phone, but then cherry-picked the information he wanted to turn over (his texts with Karen).

I recall hearing, but cannot source, that what he did was technically illegal (something along the lines of improper use of government equipment, but I don't recall the exact terminology), and that was likely why he had an attorney.

However, considering he was a witness in the trial and the defense was outright stating they believed he was involved in causing the death of JOK would have been reason enough to have an attorney.

My hope is that because he was ATF, he had superiors that prevented him from brazenly not doing his job properly like all of the MSP, but who knows? He was besties with the police chief who was letting Canton cops, so he may have been involved in all kinds of shady things.

5/24/24

During cross-examination, Jackson grilled Higgins on his whereabouts and phone records in the hours and days after O’Keefe died. Higgins confirmed that on Jan. 30, 2022, he sought advice about phone data extraction from his best friend, a fellow ATF agent who works in the FBI’s regional computer forensics lab.

“I asked him how I could pull text strings off my cellular telephone for the purpose of providing them to law enforcement,” Higgins testified, later acknowledging that he could have also turned the entire device over to police.

He confirmed that he visited the forensics lab and used a “kiosk” in an unrestricted area to pull information from his phone. Jackson pressed Higgins on whether he was aware that federal regulations bar the use of one’s public office for private gain. Higgins said he wasn’t aware. He also testified that he no longer has the same phone he did in 2022.

“You’ve destroyed that phone, haven’t you?” Jackson asked.

“No, I threw the phone away,” Higgins said.

“Well, that’s destroying the phone, isn’t it?” Jackson countered.

“I had every right to do that,” Higgins maintained.

He said to the best of his recollection, “When I threw it away, if I was going to take [the SIM card] out, I would break it or cut it. But I did not wipe the phone. I did not take anything else off it. But if I was going to throw the phone away, that’s what I would’ve done.”

Karen Read trial: Defense grills Brian Higgins on the fate of his cellphone, SIM card

 

[MerlinFalcon]

Karen’s team isn’t done

 

[Maat99]

Karen’s team isn’t done

From the article:

“Karen Read’s civil legal team has sent subpoenas to several government agencies, including the Massachusetts State Police and the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office, 25 Investigates has learned. The legal demands seek a wide range of materials related to her criminal prosecution and others.

The subpoenas, filed by Read’s civil lawyers, request records concerning witnesses who testified in her criminal trial, fired Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, and materials related to the federal investigation of John O’Keefe’s death, a source with knowledge said.

Read’s team is also seeking communication between the DA’s office and federal authorities about the Sandra Birchmore case.”

I’m sure there are many people who want this civil trial to go away!