PLYMOUTH, MASS. (WHDH) - Karen Read’s motion to stay a civil trial against her was partially granted Friday and she will not face deposition until her upcoming criminal trial has been resolved.
Read is accused of running over and killing Boston police officer O’Keefe, her boyfriend at the time, with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow after a night of drinking in January 2022. Her defense claims she’s been framed.
A retrial of Read is scheduled for January; her first trial ended with a hung jury over the summer.
O’Keefe’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in August, blaming Read for his death, as well as two Canton bars they argue overserved Read the night O’Keefe died.
In his decision ordering the stay, Massachusetts Superior Court Justice William White agreed with Read’s attorneys that she could not participate in the civil and criminal trials concurrently.
“The prejudice to Read from having to choose between defending this wrongful death action and protecting herself from providing evidence that might be used against her in the criminal retrial outweighs the Estate’s interest in the expeditious resolution of the wrongful death case.”
Read’s criminal retrial is scheduled to begin on January 27, 2025.
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