BOSTON (WHDH) - The attorney for Boston police officer John O’Keefe’s family is withdrawing the motion to stop the return of Karen Read’s cell phones.
The attorney, Marc Diller, said he will work with Read’s legal team toward an agreement on how to access them.
O’Keefe’s family filed a motion saying the phones should not be returned to Read because they believed there was evidence on them, including a quote where Read allegedly said “I’m dead, I’m (expletive) dead.”
“The plaintiffs are going to withdraw the motion entered before this court,” Diller said. “I also want to acknowledge to this court and to Ms. Read that I was mistaken when I interpreted her words to say ‘I’m dead, I’m (expletive) dead.”
The motion for a restraining order was filed last month. Diller asked the judge in the civil case to prevent Read from getting her cell phones back if and when they are released.
The iPhones were seized by state police and are now in the hands of the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.
The request for the restraining order said the O’Keefe’s had concerns Read “may alter or destroy the cell phone(s) contents should they be returned to her before plaintiffs can preserve all data.
“She never made the comment that was attributed to her and to have that acknowledged in open court, that’s all we wanted,” Alan Jackson said, Read’s attorney. “We just want a little bit of honesty in the process and we took some big strides getting there today.”
O’Keefe’s body was found on another officer’s lawn in Canton in January 2022.
Read was acquitted of second-degree murder in O’Keefe’s death.
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