A lawyer representing several civilian witnesses who testified against Karen Read during her criminal trials blasted her effort to join them to a wrongful death lawsuit she faces from the family of her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, as the latest in a “scheme to defame and wrongly malign” them.
The witnesses — Jennifer McCabe, Matthew McCabe, Brian Albert, Nicole Albert and Brian Higgins — were all present at 34 Fairview Road in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022, the night O’Keefe died. The Alberts owned the home at the time.
O’Keefe was found in a snow bank on the front lawn on the morning of the 29th, hours after Read dropped him off there following a night of heavy drinking. She was accused by authorities of backing her SUV into O’Keefe and killing him, but her lawyers claimed the McCabes, Alberts and Higgins were complicit in his death and conspired to frame her.
They named Brian Albert, a Boston police officer, and Higgins, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as part of their third-party culprit defense. Only Jennifer McCabe testified at Read’s second trial this spring, which ended with her acquittal.
At a hearing on the wrongful death suit in September, months after the acquittal, Read’s lawyers revealed that they intended to pursue claims, including violation of civil rights, against those five witnesses.
- Read more: Karen Read wants to sue the Mass. State Police, witnesses from her trial. What you need to know
In a legal brief opposing that effort, a pair of lawyers representing the five witnesses called Read’s claims a “vile work of fiction lacking any basis in fact, evidence, or law.”
“The Commonwealth Witnesses vigorously dispute Defendant Read’s allegations and will defend against these false claims,” the filing reads.
That defense will include motions to dismiss, efforts to take the case out of state court and move it to federal court, and potential counterclaims against Read and Aidan Kearney, the blogger known as Turtleboy. Kearney was a loud champion of Read’s innocence, leading up to and during her trials, and is charged with witness intimidation for his conduct.
Those claims would include defamation and “other torts that they have committed, individually and in concert,” according to the filing, a copy of which was shared with MassLive. “The Commonwealth Witnesses, however, should not be forced to litigate these false allegations and their own defamation claims in this pending lawsuit.”
Damon Seligson, the lawyer heading up Read’s civil defense team, said the defamation claims would be “baseless.”
“We will defend her vigorously in the face of those kind of claims,” Seligson said. “Truth is an absolute defense for defamation.”
The brief was served on Read’s lawyers last week but has not yet been docketed in Plymouth Superior Court, where the lawsuit was filed. A hearing on the suit is scheduled for Friday afternoon and could well address many of the issues raised in the filing.
Read’s team has not yet filed its motion seeking to add the witnesses to the wrongful death suit in court, but served a copy on their lawyer last month.
Along with the McCabes, Alberts and Higgins, Read has said she wants to sue the Massachusetts State Police and three investigators who worked on her case: Det Lt. Brian Tully, Sgt. Yuriy Bukheni and former trooper Michael Proctor. Read’s lawyers also intend to bring claims against the town of Canton.
Her lawyers have said that the wrongful death lawsuit is the right venue for the claims because it concerns the same facts. They argue it would be more efficient to litigate everything in one case, rather than have several interrelated cases proceeding at once.
But the lawyers representing the Alberts, McCabes and Higgins contend it would do the opposite.
“Defendant Read’s proposal to join the Commonwealth Witnesses and other third-parties to this Wrongful Death Action would not advance judicial economy at this stage but, rather, would substantially increase the complexity of the pre-trial proceedings and result in delay and prejudice to the Commonwealth Witnesses and the Plaintiffs,” the filing reads.
Instead, the lawyer for the witnesses suggests that Read file her claims as a separate action, parts of which could be joined with the wrongful death lawsuit at a later date.
The brief marks the first time the witnesses have formally pushed back against the narrative pushed by Read and her team in a courtroom setting.
In addition to likely addressing the counterclaims issues, Friday’s hearing will mark the first time the lawyers will appear before Judge Mark C. Gildea, who was specially assigned to the case on Monday. Previously, the case was assigned to Judge Daniel O’Shea, who is set to retire.
Gildea was appointed to the bench by Gov. Charlie Baker in 2017.
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