Karen Read Update: 'The Days of Her Being on the Defensive are Over' as Her Lawyers Plan to Sue the Police and Witnesses Who Accused Her of Murder

Boston Globe. Getty Images.

It's been just under a month since the Masshole Trial of the Century Part II made any real headlines. But if you thought this case had officially entered the True Crime Drama phase of the proceedings:

… then you've got another thing coming. Because that would mean you skipped right over the other stage of any high profile criminal case. That would be the high profile civil cases. The lawsuits and counter suits. And we have just entered into that season:

Boston Herald -  Karen Read was back in  Massachusetts courtroom Monday for the first time since her criminal trial ended — and her her defense declared that this time she won’t be “on the defensive.”

“We’re going to try to get the truth out there,” said Read’s attorney Alan Jackson said outside the Plymouth County Superior Court. “Like I said, the days of her being on the defensive, those days are over.”

During a status hearing for the wrongful death civil case against Read, her defense indicated they plan to go on the offensive and file claims against 10 additional parties familiar from the criminal trial that they say aided a conspiracy against her.

Read is one of numerous parties already named in the civil suit filed by the family of her former boyfriend John O’Keefe. …

The 10 new parties Read’s attorneys aim to bring in with affirmative claims represent a who’s who of characters from the criminal trial.

They include the Massachusetts State Police for alleged negligent training and retention of troopers; Read’s former State Police investigators Lt. Brian Tully, Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik and Michael Proctor for civil rights violations; and the town of Canton for the local police department’s “negligent failure to secure the garage and sally port.”

Read’s team also told the court they intend to file civil right’s and civil conspiracy claims against Brian Albert, Nicole Albert, Matthew McCabe, Jennifer McCabe and Brian Higgins, who were in the house O’Keefe was found outside of.

               

The potential claims relate to a conspiracy purported by Read’s defense, arguing other parties in the house were involved in O’Keefe’s death and a coverup framed his then-girlfriend.

“We would be alleging the individuals in the house diverted attention away from themselves, towards Ms. Read,” said defense attorney Damon Seligson. “That law enforcement then acted on that diverted attention away from her, because the people in the house were either police or police adjacent who were socially and personally connected. Then they collectively conspired to ensure what happened in the house was not explored and investigated.”

So this would mean not just another trial involving this same cast of characters, but two separate civil trials? 

I get that the first instinct of most of us would be to ask "Why bother?" She's already been charged twice. One jury acquitted her of the only charges that anyone really cares about, the homicide of John O'Keefe. The first jury seems to have found her not guilty of that one, but got lost in the weeds of the drunk driving charge and were declared hung. So there's next to no chance a third jury would declare she fatally backed her SUV into him. 

And for Read's part, she walked free. She's an innocent woman. Why not just move on with her life? 

Well obviously the answer for both are the two oldest and deepest motivations in the human soul. Retribution and money. With the family suing Read, it's the first one. With her suing all the top law enforcement officials and departments, as well as the Alberts and McCabe's it's both. Certainly the MA State Police and Canton have the deep pockets. But if you feel like you got framed, smeared and humiliated in order to cover up the fact Michael Proctor showed interest in looking into whether the Alberts and McCabes might have had something to do with O'Keefe's death (which the vast majority of Massholes at least suspect), you definitely want to exact your pound of flesh from all of them. 

And I totally understand if anyone doesn't have the stomach for yet another trial or two. I mean, how many TV series are good after the second season now? Most aren't even worth watching after S1. Look at True Detective and The Last of Us, just for two quick examples. How many times can we hear yet another expert come in to discuss cellphone data and the physics of a Lexus backing up? 

But at the same time, this would give us more of the testimony we missed out on in the retrial. Proctor having to defend himself. Everyone in the house at 34 Fairview on the night in question. Brian Higgins, the ATF agent with the terrible sexting game who may have gotten to tamper with the murder car and definitely destroyed his cellphone and tossed it in the trash at a military base. My Queen, Kelly Dever:

No one allowed to plead the Fifth. All compelled to testify under oath. Like The Social Network, only nastier and with much more bad blood and pure hatred than Zuckerberg and the Vinklevii could ever possibly imagine. Not to mention, and I'm obviously being selfish here, the blog fodder that would come of it. 

Yes, you can argue America is too litigious and we don't need the courts to be tied up with personal vendettas. But I won't mind this one damned bit.