Murder defendant Karen Read has “one foot out of Massachusetts,” according to John O’Keefe’s family’s lawyer who wants to “lock in” testimony from Read in the wrongful death lawsuit.

While the attorney for the O’Keefe family wrote in the new court filing that Read has sold her Mansfield home, a real estate agent told the Herald that the home has not officially sold yet but is under contract.

Whenever a sale happens for the home listed at $849,900, Read’s criminal defense attorneys — listed as lenders on the mortgage — are set for a big windfall, the Herald has learned.

The family of the late Boston police officer has brought the wrongful death suit against Read and two Canton bars after O’Keefe died following a night out with an allegedly drunk Read, who drove him to another cop’s home at the end of the night.

Read’s criminal murder trial ended in a mistrial earlier this year, and now a second trial is expected to start in January. While that trial is pending, Read’s civil attorneys and the two Canton bars are trying to delay the wrongful death suit.

But in a new filing from the O’Keefe family lawyer, the family is pushing for the civil lawsuit to go on as the criminal case plays out.

“The O’Keefe family also has compelling reasons to lock in testimony from Karen Read, who seeks not only to poison the jury pool with her regular communications with the media, reporters and/or bloggers, but also has one foot out of Massachusetts now that her house has sold,” the family lawyer Marc Diller wrote in the new filing.

“It is feasible for both (criminal and civil cases) to proceed concurrently without imposing undue burden upon witnesses or parties,” the lawyer added. “To avoid prejudice based on witness unavailability, failed memories and/or Karen Read’s attempts to poison the jury pool through her public statements, this Court should exercise its discretion to DENY a stay of the civil case pending the criminal matter’s resolution.”

Read’s civil defense attorneys did not immediately respond to comment on Wednesday.

Read’s home

Read bought her four-bed, three-bath, two-story colonial on nearly a full acre lot at 481 Gilbert St. in Mansfield in 2017 and listed it for sale over the summer for $849,900, records show.

The law firms for both David Yannetti and Alan Jackson, Read’s attorneys in the criminal case, in September each received large mortgages from Karen Read on the home at 481 Gilbert St., according to North Bristol County Registry of Deeds records.

Two legal experts the Herald spoke with confirmed that it’s common for lawyers to put up a mortgage for a client to secure legal fees when a home sells. Indeed, each mortgage document states that Read owes $200,000 plus interest, a debt to be made in regular payments with the full debt paid off no later than Oct. 1, 2054.

Neither Yannetti nor Jackson returned Herald calls for comment on this mortgage arrangement.

The home on the west side of Gilbert Street was built in 1972 and was most recently appraised at $598,800, according to Mansfield town property records.

The case

Read is charged with second-degree murder (Count 1), manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence (Count 2), and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death (Count 3).

Following the mistrial earlier this year, her attorneys filed a motion to have Counts 1 and 3 dismissed in the next trial as they claim that jurors from the original trial have come forward to say they were ready to acquit her on those charges unanimously and were only hung on Count 2 but didn’t know that they could return a partial verdict.

Trial Judge Beverly J. Cannone denied the motion and Read’s team has since appealed to the SJC. That appeal is pending.

Originally Published: October 23, 2024 at 5:52 p.m.