A Southbridge, Massachusetts, man accused of kidnapping a child at a Webster beach and assaulting her last week is expected in court Monday.
The incident happened on the Patriot’s Day holiday at Memorial Beach, Webster police said, adding tha…
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A Southbridge, Massachusetts, man accused of kidnapping a child at a Webster beach and assaulting her last week is expected in court Monday.
The incident happened on the Patriot’s Day holiday at Memorial Beach, Webster police said, adding tha…
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A man who was arrested and charged with kidnapping and rape over the weekend in Everett, Massachusetts, is set to face a judge Monday.
Jersson Canales, 35, was arrested Saturday in connection with an incident that occurred earlier that day, Everett…
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Another day of questioning begins Monday inside a Dedham, Massachusetts, courthouse as jury selection continues in the Karen Read trial.
Only four more jurors are needed before opening statements can begin. 12 jurors were seated last week.
After an eventful jury selection process last week, a new crop of prospective jurors are set to enter the courtroom Monday, as both sides are motivated to get this process over with and to get the case underway.
As far as the trial, prosecutors made a push Thursday to admit DNA evidence connected to a piece of hair that was discovered on Read’s SUV after her boyfriend John O’Keefe, a former Boston police officer, was found dead.
Prosecutors have given the report to Read’s lawyers, but the judge hasn’t made a ruling on if the data will be allowed in court.
Outside the court, the battle continues between Karen Rad supporters and the state after the court-ordered that a buffer zone be put in place, keeping demonstrators 200 feet away from the courthouse as well as from holding signs and wearing pro-Karen Read clothes.
Demonstrators have appealed the decision to the Supreme Judicial Court, claiming “the Superior Court had no authority to create the buffer zone outside the courthouse and its curtilage.”
“The buffer zone is an unconstitutional prior restraint on all forms of ‘demonstration’ regardless of relation to the criminal case that spurred the creation of the zone,” the group of demonstrators argued.
We got new insight Wednesday on how the people who will eventually consider the high-profile charges are being screened.
NBC10 Boston obtained the jury questionnaire from the clerk’s office of the Norfolk Superior Court.
The questionnaire includes 29 questions, starting with one that summarizes the case:
“It is alleged that on January 29, 2022, while intoxicated and operating her motor vehicle in Canton, MA, the defendant, Karen Read, killed her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, an off-duty Boston Police officer. Is there anything about the description of the case, the charges, or the that the victim was an off-duty police officer, that causes you to believe that you cannot be fair and impartial in this case?”
Potential jurors have the option to respond yes, no or not sure to that and the other questions, which cover religious beliefs, law enforcement, media attention and if they think Read should have to prove her innocence.
Read the full document here:
Prior to the start of jury selection Tuesday, Judge Beverly Cannone announced that she’s not going to exclude the defense from using a third-party culprit defense during the trial.
Prosecutors had filed a motion seeking to prevent the defense from making such an argument.
“I’m going to give you a chance to develop it through relevant, competent, admissable evidence,” she said. “But you cannot open with it.”
Read is accused of killing O’Keefe in January of 2022. Prosecutors say she hit him with her SUV and left him in a blizzard, but her attorneys say she’s being framed as part of a massive coverup. The defense claims O’Keefe was attacked inside the home.
Cannone has said she expects the Read trial to last somewhere between 6-8 weeks once a jury is seated. She said the schedule will include full days on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and half days on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
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College students across Boston are standing in solidarity with Columbia University students. They’re calling on administrators from Emerson College, MIT and Tufts University to take action in the Israel-Hamas war.
A large group of students were gathered Monday in an encampment that blocked Boylston Place alley on Emerson’s campus. They’re part of the non-affiliated student organization “Students for Justice in Palestine.”
Boston police were also on site, but they say there have been no arrests at this time.
There were also student encampments at MIT and Tufts as well. These protests began at 7 p.m. Sunday and continued throughout the night.
These students say this is an act of solidarity with 100 pro-Palestinian protestors arrested at Columbia University in New York last week.
These students say they want their school to support all voices, including marginalized ones like theirs.
“We’re asking for the school to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, we’re asking the school to disclose all financial ties to Zionist organizations and to divest from those organizations and we’re asking the school to condemn the arrests at Columbia last week,” said Owen Buxton, Emerson student.
“Because it’s an ongoing occupation and we will be continuing to hold down this territory. We have folks coming in and out, but this has taken hundreds of people to put together,” said Dylan Young, Emerson student.
Police and college officials continue to monitor these encampments and are working to ensure a safe passage through the alley. However, these students say they’ll be out until their demands are met.
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A sunny start to the week with seasonable afternoons all week. Monday and Tuesday are looking bright, a reinforcing shot of cool air sweeping in from the north will make for some chilly mornings.
Highs in the mid to upper 50s, lows in the mid to up…
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An idea floated by the secretary for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation about adding tolls at the state’s borders has some people telling Monica Tibbits-Nutt she needs to pump the brakes.
The MassDOT secretary was giving a keynote…
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