In towns and cities across Massachusetts, election workers are waiting with anticipation. Early voting begins Saturday and serves as the first in-person chance for Bay Staters to make their voices heard.
Voting booths, ballots and volunteers a…
Massachusetts
Strike suspended at 2 Omni hotels in Boston, union says
The hotel workers strike at two Boston hotels has been suspended as a tentative agreement was reached, the union announced Friday night.
Workers at Omni Parker House and the Omni Boston Seaport are no longer picketing, the union 685 UNITE HERE…
Why the Karen Read murder trial is must-see TV for so many
During Karen Read’s nine-week trial and the days of jury deliberation after that, hundreds gathered outside Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts, accompanied by a crush of international media.
The major interest in the murder case came as no surprise to experts who say it shows the true power of the true crime genre.
“As Mark Twain once said, ‘We are all like the moon, we have a dark side that you just don’t see,’” said Jeffrey Zeizel, a clinical social worker who works with law enforcement and who directs the Center for Health Resources. “Through history, people have been fascinated with crime stories.”
Read is accused of hitting her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, with her SUV in late January 2022. O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow outside a Canton home the next morning.
Her arrest, trial and subsequent mistrial have attracted international attention and divided Canton and beyond.
“The thing about true crime is that it allows us to get up close and personal to trauma and sort of the unimaginable,” said Deborah Jaramillo, a Boston University professor of Film and Television Studies. “So it hovers in this strange space between the crime that we see in fiction storytelling but it is tapping into the abject, what we don’t want to experience in real life. It is taking us to that strange place.”
She added, “People have been drawn to the intrigue, the mystery, the investigation, and the gruesomeness as well of this particular genre.”
It’s must-see TV, playing out in real life — with real people impacted.
“It is the intersection between social media, sensationalism, news coverage and a murder case,” said Zeizel. “All these things intersect and everyone wants to feel like they are a part of it.”
Jaramillo agreed.
“We know the narrative, it is intriguing to us, and it can be exciting if it is happening in real time, in a trial for example,” she said. “We can turn it off, we can walk away, we can say we came close to it, but thankfully we haven’t experienced it.”
Head of Mass. State Police unit that investigated Karen Read transferred out
The Massachusetts State Police unit that investigated Karen Read is getting a new leader, weeks after a new leader took over the full agency.
Police announced Friday evening that Det. Lt. Brian Tully, who has been under internal investigation, has been transition to a different department for the time being and that the department is hiring for his old job
“Detective Lieutenant Tully will continue to be available to assist the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office with any cases in which he was previously involved,” state police said in a statement, which noted that the investigation remained ongoing.
The statement said that new Massachusetts State Police Col. Geoffrey Noble decided the move “is in the best interest of the Department’s public safety mission,” but didn’t elaborate.
Read the full statement from Massachusetts State Police here:
The Massachusetts State Police has posted a vacancy for the position of unit commander of the State Police Detective Unit assigned to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office. Colonel Noble has conducted an initial review and believes this decision is in the best interest of the Department’s public safety mission.
The unit commander oversees approximately 20 state troopers who investigate unattended deaths, narcotics and organized crime, sexual assault and abuse, larceny and related, financially motivated crimes. The unit also includes a digital evidence analysis lab processes digital evidence, such as computers and cellular phones from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
The position was previously held by Detective Lieutenant Brian Tully who transitioned to a temporary assignment in the Division of Investigative Services. Detective Lieutenant Tully will continue to be available to assist the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office with any cases in which he was previously involved. Detective Lieutenant Tully remains the subject of an ongoing internal affairs investigation.
Live updates: Takeaways from Dateline’s Karen Read episode, ‘Canton Confidential’
What to KnowDateline on Friday is airing an episode on the closely watched and still-unfolding legal saga centered on Karen ReadRead is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, and leaving him to die outside a h…
Inmate charged in 2022 attack on MCI-Shirley corrections officer pleads guilty
A man who attacked a corrections officer when he was housed as an inmate at the Massachusetts Correctional Institute in Shirley in 2022 pled guilty Friday, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.
The attack left the corrections officer at the facility fighting for his life and set off a push for stronger safety measures at state prison facilities.
Roy Booth, 42, pled guilty to mayhem and armed assault with intent to murder in Middlesex Superior Court. He was sentenced to 13 to 15 years in prison, to be served consecutively with a life sentence he is serving in Virginia for murder.
Prosecutors say Booth used a metal pole that he took from the weight room to beat Corrections Officer Matthew Tidman, attacking him from behind. Booth did not stop until he was physically forced to by other officers.
Booth had been transferred to Massachusetts from Virginia in 2021. He was transferred back to a Virginia state prison after the attack.
NBC10 Boston learned while in prison in Virginia, Booth earned a lengthy disciplinary record comprised of 60 offenses, including a violent assault on another inmate. In January of last year, citing his poor adjustment, the Virginia Department of Corrections recommended he be transferred to an out-of-state prison. He was put into MCI-Shirley, which is medium security.
Tidman survived the attack, though he is now permanently disabled with a traumatic brain injury and other medical concerns. He and his family have been active in pushing for stricter safety regulations at prisons, a call echoed by the union that represents corrections officers in the state.
More recently, the union has called for the Department of Correction to make changes after a stabbing at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley on Sept. 18. Two officers suffered stab wounds and three others were also hurt in the assault, allegedly at the hands of inmates in the facility.
