Karen Read’s out-of-court statements, including in popular true-crime TV programs, will play a key role in her second murder trial in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe, according to new court filings.

Read is accused of backing her Lexus SUV into O’Keefe just after midnight on Jan. 29, 2022, then leaving him to die on the ground as a blizzard swept through New England. 

They had argued that morning, then spent hours drinking together and were allegedly involved in a fight outside another officer’s house where an after-party was underway. She pleaded not guilty, and jurors couldn’t agree by the end of her first trial last year, clearing the way for a new trial.

Hank Brennan, a prominent Massachusetts defense attorney who was brought in to take charge of the case after the first trial ended in a mistrial, had previously requested subpoenas for unpublished transcripts of interviews with Read that included her statements, including remarks left on the cutting room floor for both TV and print publications.

Both sides have agreed not to call a Boston Magazine editor to the witness stand, even though her reporting may be introduced at trial. This would exempt her from rules sequestering witnesses before they testify and allow her to continue covering the trial.

Defendant Karen Read and attorney Alan Jackson review jury questionnaires during the second day of her retrial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., on April 2, 2025. (Greg Derr/Pool/Patriot Ledger)

She has a petition before the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to toss two of the three charges against her, arguing that while jurors never announced a verdict at the end of her first trial, they had cleared her of both second-degree murder and leaving the scene of an accident but got stuck on the third, manslaughter.

Read faces up to life in prison if convicted on the top charge she currently faces. Jury selection continued Monday, and opening statements could happen any day once the full 12 jurors and six alternates are chosen.

As of the end of the day on Monday, two spots were open.