Latest developments: The Karen Read murder case, a federal investigation and Turtleboy

DEDHAM ― A lawyer for Karen Read, the woman whose controversial murder case converges with the jailing of the Holden blogger known as “Turtleboy,” told a judge Thursday that he expects federal prosecutors to release information about their investigation into the Read matter shortly.

At a hearing in Norfolk Superior Court, David Yannetti, one of Read’s lawyers, said federal prosecutors had pledged to release information about their probe to Read and prosecutors from Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey’s office prior to Read’s trial in March.

Yannetti, calling such a step “almost unheard of,” disclosed the information while arguing for the public release of letters between Morrissey and federal prosecutors.

Fox 25 reported last month that federal prosecutors had opened an inquiry into the Read matter — an unusual step because federal prosecutors do not generally get involved in state murder cases.

Read is accused of murdering her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, by backing into him with her SUV outside a home in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022, after a night of drinking.

Her defense team — bolstered by coverage of the case by Holden’s Aidan Kearney, known as “Turtleboy”— has argued that Read is innocent and that authorities have engaged in a sweeping cover-up to protect the occupants of the home, where they suggest O’Keefe was beaten.

Acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua S. Levy’s office has not detailed the scope of its inquiry. Supporters of Read, including Kearney, have predicted it will expose corruption and vindicate their views.

Yannetti appeared to buoy that idea Thursday, telling a judge that Morrissey was a “target” of the federal probe. However his statement was quickly batted down by Morrissey and Levy.

A spokesman for Morrissey called the statement a complete misrepresentation, adding that Levy’s office has never indicated that Morrissey, or anyone in his office, is a target of the probe.

Federal prosecutors corroborated Morrissey’s statement Thursday evening.

“In connection with this (Karen Read) matter, at no time has the U.S. Attorney’s Office named any person or entity as a target of an investigation, to anyone,” Christina Sterling, a spokeswoman for Levy’s office, wrote the Telegram & Gazette in an email.

Morrissey's office on Friday, according to Fox 25's Ted Daniel, withdrew its opposition to the release of the letters between itself and federal prosecutors.

In a motion Daniel posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Morrissey's office wrote that while it still believed its legal argument to be sound, it "now moves for the release of all correspondence to ameliorate the prejudicial effect of (Yannetti's) false impression to the court and the public."

Yannetti did not respond to an email seeking comment Thursday. In court Thursday, he said that federal prosecutors had told him and Morrissey’s office that they could not “in good conscience” allow Read’s case to go to trial without disclosing some of their information.

Read’s case has become a hotly debated subject in Massachusetts and beyond, partly as a result of coverage from Kearney.

'Turtleboy' alleges he was set up

Kearney has been charged with intimidating witnesses in the case, and is in jail after his bail was revoked following allegations by an ex-girlfriend of witness intimidation and domestic assault.

At a Jan. 8 hearing in which he contested the woman’s restraining order against him, Kearney alleged the charges were a setup by authorities hoping to put him in jail and learn more about the federal probe.

According to audio of the hearing the T&G obtained through the Massachusetts Trial Court, Kearney’s lawyer, Timothy Bradl, suggested that the woman had partnered with police to exact revenge on Kearney.

Kearney testified that his ex-girlfriend told him she’d spoken to police and the prosecutors pursuing him for witness intimidation shortly after their Dec. 9 breakup.

Kearney testified the woman told him authorities wanted information about the federal investigation. He testified he was told authorities had asked for information into a purported FBI probe of a state police lieutenant investigating Kearney, information on Read’s “relationship” with Levy, information on whether Read had disclosed details about a grand jury to Kearney, and whether Read’s defense team had paid Kearney for his coverage.

Levy’s office declined a request for comment on Kearney’s testimony, as did state police. Morrissey’s office referred a request for comment to Kenneth Mello, the special prosecutor handling Kearney’s criminal cases, who could not be immediately reached Friday.

At Kearney’s arraignment in the domestic violence case Dec. 26, Mello alleged that Kearney grabbed his ex-girlfriend and pushed her into a couch during an altercation on Dec. 23.

The Dec. 23 altercation happened after the ex-girlfriend had texted Kearney a photo of a grand jury summons she’d received, and the two met to discuss it, something Bradl had advised against.

Mello argued Dec. 26 that Kearney assaulted the woman during the meeting and, in the process, intimidated a witness who was slated to testify about him.

Bradl and Kearney argue Kearney never assaulted her, and that authorities made her a witness to bait him into an intimidation charge.

The woman, a registered nurse who’d dated Kearney from September to December, took the stand Jan. 8 and was peppered with accusations from Bradl.

Bradl, through questions and later statements to the judge, alleged the woman to be an unstable person with mental and substance abuse issues who wanted revenge on Kearney after he spurned her.

He alleged that the woman, after breaking up with Kearney, spoke with a rival of Kearney’s on social media, and also with police and prosecutors pursuing Kearney in his witness intimidation case.

The woman confirmed during testimony that she had spoken with the rival, police and Mello after her breakup with Kearney, but denied accusations that she had worked with authorities to conspire against Kearney.

Bradl pointed out that the state police officer to whom the woman had spoken, not the woman herself, called Medfield police to report the alleged assault, and accused the woman of lying in her affidavit for the restraining order.

Under pointed questioning, the woman said it was true she’d asked Kearney to come to her home the day before the alleged assault, but said it was a “mutual decision” for Kearney to come to her home the day it allegedly occurred — testimony Bradl argued was contradicted by text messages.

The woman testified she was not hurt when she contacted the couch, which she said happened during a struggle over notes Kearney had taken regarding conversations with his rival.

"(He) kind of pushed me in the process of trying to wrestle me for the notes," she said. "My knees were at the couch level, so I — he pushed me into the couch, and I thereafter fell onto the couch."

The woman testified Kearney yelled at her during the interaction, and that she was in fear of him afterward, alleging that she believed he would post sexually explicit information about her and embarrassing information about her children online.

The woman admitted to telling Kearney some things in texts she did not believe — including that she was sorry for speaking to his rival — but said she would have told him anything he wanted to hear to protect herself and her children.

Kearney testified that the woman, not him, had surreptitiously recorded the two having sex in her home, and that they regularly exchanged sexual messages in December.

Kearney admitted on cross-examination to posting sexual content about another ex-girlfriend online, saying he only did so after that person posted sexual content about him first.

Kearney testified he wasn’t upset at his ex-girlfriend for her alleged betrayal, saying that his “heart broke” for her.

Bradl read aloud several text messages Kearney sent the woman, including ones in which Kearney stated he was “not vengeful” and that life was “too short for grudges.”

Lawyer: Turtleboy says he is a different person than he used to be

Kearney’s blog has long been criticized for its crude language and often harsh treatment of people about whom he writes. Bradl said Kearney wrote in the messages that he is a different person now than he was years ago.

The woman confirmed she received her grand jury summons from state police hours after a Superior Court judge, over the objection of prosecutors, declined to set new restrictions on Kearney following his arraignment on 16 witness intimidation charges Dec. 22. 

Bradl alleged the woman baited Kearney to come to her apartment with the texts. The woman told Bradl the state police who served her the summons to testify told her, upon her query, that it was OK for her to tell Kearney about it — testimony he had her repeat for emphasis.

The woman told Bradl she has not yet testified in front of the grand jury, saying things have been delayed “because of the court dates that I'm currently dealing with with Aidan now.”

Bradl, introducing text messages he said showed the woman was “sexting” with Kearney around the same time she was speaking to investigators, accused her of betraying him.

He further accused her of lying about being pregnant in order to manipulate Kearney. The woman, after a recess to speak with her lawyer, denied trying to trick Kearney.

Bradl probed the false pregnancy allegation at length. Kearney testified the woman used the pregnancy as a ploy to get him to spend time with her and sleep over her house.

Kearney alleged the night of Dec. 23, the woman purported to take abortion pills and threatened self-harm if he left her home. He said he ended up leaving her home around 5 a.m. and crashed his car on the highway because he was so tired.

The woman’s lawyer lodged many objections to Bradl’s questioning, with District Court Judge Paul J. McCallum often allowing Bradl to proceed.

Witness says she knows nothing; restraining order extended

However, Bradl’s case was dealt a blow when a witness he asserted was crucial to his defense testified she knew nothing about the matter.

Bradl told the judge that the woman, who babysat for the ex-girlfriend several days after the alleged assault, told an investigator for Bradl that the ex-girlfriend had admitted Kearney didn’t assault her.

But the babysitter, who declined to come to court, saying she had COVID, denied knowing anything or speaking to the ex-girlfriend substantively when called to the stand from her home via Zoom.

The woman at one point said she didn’t know Kearney, but later appeared to say she recalled speaking with him on the phone.

Bradl suggested to the judge the woman, who he said had family ties to the ex-girlfriend, was lying.

A lawyer for the ex-girlfriend argued that Bradl’s insinuations against his client were the kind of victim-blaming that judges such as McCallum have seen and recognized in the past.

He noted that the burden of proof in a restraining order case — preponderance of the evidence — is a lower standard of proof than what’s needed in a criminal case.

McCallum, without commenting on anything specifically, ruled the woman had met her legal burden and extended the restraining order until January 2025.

McCallum, at points during the hearing, noted that there may be lines of inquiry not relevant or admissible in the civil hearing that could be relevant in Kearney's criminal cases.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Karen Read case: Updates expected in federal investigation