Norfolk DA condemns treatment of witnesses in Read case

By Jay Turner

In the face of mounting criticism and alarmed by what he described as the ongoing harassment of witnesses in the murder case against Karen Read, a fed-up Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey officially broke his silence last week while calling for an end to “baseless” speculation and the peddling of false narratives.

In the nearly six-minute video released on Friday, August 25 — a first of its kind for Morrissey in his dozen years on the job — the DA addressed many of the theories that have been circulating online or advanced by Read’s defense attorneys regarding the circumstances leading to the January 2022 death of Read’s then-boyfriend, Canton resident and Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe.

Read, a Mansfield resident, has been accused of striking O’Keefe with her SUV and then leaving him to die in a snowstorm outside the Fairview Road home of Brian Albert, an acquaintance of O’Keefe’s and a fellow BPD officer. Read, however, maintains her innocence of all charges, while her lawyers and others following the case believe that she was framed, pointing to evidence that they say not only implicates Albert, but others who were at his home on the night in question as well as members of the Canton and Massachusetts State Police.

Whereas Read’s attorneys believe that several individuals conspired to cover up their role in the crime, Morrissey said the available evidence does not support such a claim.

“Conspiracy theories are not evidence,” he said. “The idea that multiple police departments, EMTs, fire personnel, the medical examiner, and the prosecuting agency are joined in, or taken in by, a vast conspiracy should be seen for what it is — completely contrary to the evidence and a desperate attempt to reassign guilt.”

Morrissey said location data from O’Keefe’s cell phone, which was recovered from the lawn beneath his body, shows that he never entered the Alberts’ home on the night he died. (Attorneys for Read vehemently dispute this claim, citing analysis by their own forensics expert that places O’Keefe inside the residence and climbing the equivalent of three flights of stairs.)

Responding to the widely circulated theory that O’Keefe was attacked by some of the partygoers at the home, Morrissey dismissed the idea as baseless, while taking particular issue with the implication that Colin Albert — the then-18-year-old nephew of Brian Albert and son of Select Board member Chris Albert — was the instigator of the alleged attack.

Morrissey said that Colin Albert has been “vilified” as a violent thug and possible murderer, despite the fact that testimony from witnesses indicate he had left his uncle’s home before Read had even pulled up to the residence.

“This is a false narrative,” he said, adding, “There was no fight inside that home. John O’Keefe did not enter the home.”

Morrissey went on to state, unequivocally, that neither Colin Albert, Brian Albert, Brian’s sister-in-law Jen McCabe — whose alleged Google search activity is considered central to Read’s third-party culpability defense — nor Jen’s husband Matt McCabe were part of any conspiracy and “certainly did not commit murder or any crime that night.”

“They have been forthcoming with authorities, provided statements, and have not engaged in any cover-up,” said the Norfolk DA. “They are not suspects in any crime — they are merely witnesses in the case.”

Morrissey said these and other witnesses have been “harassed and intimidated,” both online and in public, and labeled as murderers by members of their own community for simply “telling the government what they heard or saw.”

“A grand jury of everyday citizens heard the documented evidence and testimony before making its decision,” Morrissey said. “The subject of that murder indictment (Read) enjoys the Constitutional presumption of innocence. Why should the witnesses, who have committed no crime, be afforded less by members of the community?”

Addressing the residents of Canton directly, he strongly urged anyone who feels invested in this case to hear all of the evidence presented at trial before assigning guilt — and certainly, he said, “before taking it upon yourself to harass your fellow citizens.”

He also alluded to the coverage of the case by internet journalists, with one in particular, Aidan Kearney (known as Turtleboy), drawing much of the attention for his confrontational style, in-depth coverage and vocal defense of Read. “We try people in the court and not on the internet for a reason,” Morrissey said. “The internet has no rules of evidence. The internet has no punishment for perjury. And the internet does not know all the facts.”

As to the accusations levied by the defense team and Kearney against State Trooper Michael Proctor, including claims that he planted evidence outside Brian Albert’s home to implicate Read, Morrissey flatly denied the allegation while stating that Proctor was “never at Fairview Road on the day of the incident.” (Charging documents filed by the prosecution appear to contradict Morrissey’s claim, noting that Proctor, a Canton resident, secured O’Keefe’s phone while on scene at the Fairview Road home.)

Whether on site or not, Morrissey said Proctor would have no reason to protect the Alberts because he did not have a close personal relationship with the family. Read’s attorneys, however, point to photos of Proctor with members of the Albert family as well as the social media activity of some of their relatives to suggest otherwise.

Kearney has also cited these photos in several of his online posts, although Morrissey insisted that Proctor “had no conflict and no reason to step out of the investigation,” adding, “Every suggestion to the contrary is a lie.”

The DA said these and other “lies” are being used as a pre-text to attack and harass a number of key witnesses and to tarnish the reputation of investigators on the case. He added that the treatment of witnesses in particular should spark “outrage in any decent person” because it is “contrary to the American values of fairness and the Constitutional value of a fair trial.”

Morrissey said he opted to release his statement as a recorded video rather than hold a news conference because he was constrained in what he could say by the rules of professional conduct for trial attorneys. Either way, he said, the message is the same: “What is happening to these innocent people, these witnesses, is wrong and it needs to stop.”

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