DEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - As Karen Read’s retrial gets underway, we’ll see and hear much more of Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone, who has shown a wide range of emotions from the bench.
Admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1985, Cannone spent most of her career as a public defender representing clients who couldn’t afford prominent defense attorneys like those she’s often sparred with in the Read case.
Now, Cannone is in charge of her own courtroom where she’s trying to make sure Read receives a fair trial while also upholding the law.
The Read case is not Judge Cannone’s first high-profile retrial.
She presided over both trials of Emmanuel Lopes, who was ultimately convicted of killing Weymouth Police Sergeant Michael Chesna and Vera Adams, an innocent bystander, in 2018.
Lopes’ first trial ended with a hung jury in July 2023, an upsetting moment for Chesna’s family.
Judge Cannone similarly watched as the family of John O’Keefe cried the day she made the decision to call a mistrial in Karen Read’s case because the jury was deadlocked.
Then-Governor Deval Patrick nominated Cannone to serve as a judge in Quincy District Court in 2009. Five years later, he appointed her to the bench at Norfolk Superior Court.
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