Norfolk District Attorney Slams Internet ‘Outrageous’ Theories In Karen Read Murder Case [+video]

Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey, in the first such statement in his term, is attacking Internet trolls for spreading unsubstantiated theories about the Karen Read murder case.

She released a scathing video statement late Friday afternoon that challenges alternative theories in the case of Read, 43, of Mansfield, who is charged in Norfolk Superior Court with the murder of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John OKeefe.

Morrissey added that we try people in court and not on the internet for a reason. The internet has no rules on evidence. The Internet has no punishment for perjury. And the Internet doesn’t know all the facts.

He stressed that the harassment of witnesses in the prosecution of Karen Read’s murder is completely unfounded. It should be an outrage to any decent person and it has to stop. Insinuation is not proof. False narratives do not constitute evidence.

However, what it does prove is that John OKeefe never entered the house at 34 Fairview Road in Canton the night he died. Location data on his phone recovered from the lawn under his body when he was transported to the hospital shows his phone did not enter that house, he said, adding that 11 witnesses said they never saw OKeefe enter the house that night.

Prosecutors said Read backed into O’Keefe in her Lexus SUV early that morning as she drove him to a meeting at the BPD sergeant’s home. Brian Albert, to which they would be invited by Jennifer McCabe, who was also present in the house.

Defense attorneys fired back, calling the entire prosecution narrative a rush job, with the defendant herself calling it a cover-up, and postulating their own theory that significant, reliable evidence not only exonerates Ms. Read, but blame Jennifer McCabe and Brian Albert. They cite location data, iPhone health app data, and an alleged search by McCabe for ho[w] long to die in the cold early that morning.

Defense attorney David Yannetti was reached by phone shortly after the statement was released, but said he would reserve comment for now.

The case has attracted third-party narratives that further suggest another party is responsible, which is the particular line Morrissey appears to be addressing in his statement.

Some, without any evidence, pointed to 18-year-old Colin Albert, nephew of the owner of the house, and accused him of assaulting John OKeefe as he entered the house. But telephone evidence shows OKeefe never entered the house, Morrissey said in the statement, later adding that Colin Albert, the maligned youth, was not present when Read and John OKeefe’s vehicle arrived on the street. This is a false narrative.

Colin Albert didn’t commit murder. Jennifer McCabe, Matthew McCabe and Brian Albert these people were not part of a conspiracy and certainly did not commit a murder or any crime that night. They have been forthcoming with the authorities, provided statements and have not engaged in any cover-ups. They are not suspects in any crime, they are merely witnesses to the case, Morrissey continued.

Seeing them accused of murder is outrageous. Seeing them harassed and intimidated based on false narratives and accusations is wrong. They are witnesses who do what our judicial system requires of them.

I ask the Canton community and everyone who feels involved in this case to hear all the real evidence at the trial before placing blame on people who have done nothing wrong,” he said. “And certainly before taking responsibility to harass citizens who, according to the evidence, have done nothing in this matter but come forward and testify.”