Defense team opts against calling Read to testify as prosecution uses her interviews in second trial

Karen Read’s defense team’s decision to not call her to the witness stand is a gamble that could help or hinder her case after the prosecution played her damaging interview clips in her second murder trial – allowing the jury to hear Read’s version of events in her own words. 

Read is facing the possibility of life in prison for the alleged murder of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe. The prosecution claims Read struck O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV in a drunken argument, leaving him to freeze to death in the front yard of a friend’s house party shortly after midnight on Jan. 29, 2022. 

Read’s defense team insists her vehicle never made contact with O’Keefe and there was no collision. 

“When I first came to practice, it was ‘never put your client on stand, ever,’” New York City defense attorney Louis Gelormino told Fox News Digital. “But I tend to disagree with that sometimes. I think we have gotten our biggest wins when we put our client on the stand.” 

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Karen Read walks with one of her attorneys, Alan Jackson, during her trial Tuesday, May 27, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Matt Stone/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)

On Tuesday, the defense submitted the team’s proposed jury instructions that indicate Read will not take the stand in her trial. 

“As you know, Ms. Read did not testify at this trial,” the instructions read. “You may not hold that against her. Ms. Read has an absolute right not to testify because, as I’ve explained, she is presumed to be innocent and does not have to do anything to convince you she is innocent.” 

The instructions stress that the reason Read chose to not take the witness stand is not relevant to the jury’s deliberations and cannot be considered evidence in her trial. Legal experts tell Fox News Digital the choice to keep a defendant from speaking may not always be the best choice. 

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Karen Read and John O’Keefe pose for an undated photograph. (Karen Read)

Gelormino said he believes Read would put on a strong performance on the witness stand, but calling her to testify does not come without risks. 

“I think the reason they’re hiding her is because they don’t want to have to have her explain all these videos that they saw of her not acting in a good way,” Gelormino said.

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Karen Read talks with her attorneys Robert Alessi and David Yannetti during her trial at Norfolk Superior Court, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Matt Stone/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)

Special prosecutor Hank Brennan played numerous clips from Read’s televised interviews, picking out clips that could potentially damage the defense.

“I also wonder, did I say, ‘could I have hit him,’” Read said in a 2024 interview with Investigation Discovery. “Or was it told to me that I said I hit him. And I knew I never could’ve said that, so the closest thing I must’ve said was, ‘did I hit him?’”

In the clip, Read questions if she “really [said] it as many times as law enforcement is claiming.” 

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