Judge orders authorities to return Karen Read’s cellphones — with a catch
A Norfolk County judge ordered authorities to return two of Karen Read’s cellphones seized in January 2024 as part of an investigation into allegations of witness intimidation.
Judge Michael Doolin agreed that there was no basis for the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office to keep the phones, but ruled that authorities could retain possession of the two iPhones pending appeal.
“The judge agreed with our claim and legal reasoning,” Ben Urbelis, an attorney representing Read, said in a statement. “But in our opinion, the last sentence of the order contradicts his own decision to allow our motion to immediately return the phones. Therefore, the fight continues.”
Prosecutors recently sought court approval for a “fault team” — a group of attorneys who reviewed evidence separately to maintain attorney-client privilege — to search Read’s two phones, but a separate judge denied them access because it took prosecutors nearly 19 months to file a request to search those phones.
The phones in question were seized but not searched in January 2024, after prosecutors filed charges against Read and the blogger. Aidan Kearney on charges of conspiracy to intimidate witnesses in a criminal case. Robert Cosgrove, the special prosecutor assigned to Kearney’s witness intimidation cases, filed a motion last year to establish a protocol for phone searches, but the proposal was ultimately rejected.
Kearney was among the most vocal supporters of Read’s innocence, and he and his lawyers credited him with helping Read rally support. The two communicated frequently about the case and court records, first through an intermediary and then directly.
“Although the Commonwealth lawfully possesses Read’s cell phones pursuant to the Court’s original search warrant authorizing the seizure, such possession does not continue indefinitely,” Doolin wrote in his March 5 decision. “In fact, in this case, Judge (Peter) Krupp denied the Commonwealth’s ability to obtain a search warrant for the contents of the phones due to the Commonwealth’s unreasonable delay in obtaining a search warrant, and there is no basis to continue to possess Read’s cell phones due to the ongoing litigation against Read.”
Still, Doolin wrote: “Until appeal, ownership of mobile phones may remain with the Commonwealth.”
To read She was acquitted last year of the three most serious charges she faced in the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. He was sentenced to one year of probation for operating under the influence.
Before his first trial began in 2024, his lawyers announced that a grand jury had declined to indict Read on a charge of witness intimidation.
Kearney is due to appear in court in December on charges of intimidating witnesses. His lawyers demanded that the special prosecutor assigned to the case be dismissed and dismissed completely. A hearing is scheduled for later this month.
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