Karen Read’s lawyers ‘came out very strongly’ at start of murder trial, says prominent Boston defense attorney

Opening statements and witness testimony kicked off in Read's high-profile murder case this week.

is now two days into her sensational murder trial, and one veteran criminal defense attorney believes the Mansfield woman’s lawyers came out swinging.

“I think the defense came out very strongly,” Janice Bassil told Boston.com in a brief interview Wednesday. “I think they laid out as much as they could.”

In general, she said, prosecutors tend to have an easier time with opening statements since they’re able to rely on the chronology of the case as a foundation.

“They get to say, ‘Well, we have this evidence and then you’re going to hear this and then you’re going to hear that,’” Bassil said. Still, she said Read’s lawyers “had a pretty compelling, I think, defense opening.”

Read, 44, is accused of striking her boyfriend — Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe — with her SUV while dropping him off at a fellow Boston officer’s home in Canton following a night of drinking.

While prosecutors allege Read left O’Keefe to die in a blizzard on Jan. 29, 2022, defense attorneys say Read was framed in a widespread coverup. They’ve suggested O’Keefe was actually beaten inside the home and possibly attacked by the family’s German shepherd.

Looking ahead, “I think the medical examiner is going to be really critical as to the injuries on the body and whether they were consistent with being hit by a car or being beaten,” Bassil said.

In court Tuesday, defense attorney Alan Jackson cross-examined a Canton firefighter who treated O’Keefe at the scene, pressing him on whether O’Keefe’s injuries were consistent with a physical altercation. Defense attorneys also hammered several first responders on discrepancies between their initial incident reports, grand jury testimony, and what they’ve said in court this week.

Though she hasn’t tuned in for witness testimony in Read’s case, Bassil noted that cross-examination strategies generally depend on the witness.

“So a civilian witness who is maybe very anxious about being in court, afraid of saying the wrong thing or whatever, you kind of typically want to walk maybe a little more gently or at least feel your way through it,” she said. “A police officer who has maybe testified more than once and is inconsistent in what they’re saying — no, I would cross-examine them pretty vigorously, and I have.”

Another factor, she said, is “whether you get a sense that the witness is sort of deliberately not answering or being coy about their answers, because you sometimes do get that from witnesses where they know what you’re asking and they’re deliberately sort of, I don’t know if it’s misinterpreting, but they’re going out of their way to make sure they don’t give you the answer that they think you want.”

Bassil also offered some general insight into how defense attorneys may seek to present their clients in court, from their attire to their mannerisms.

“You don’t want clients grimacing or making faces,” she said. “The judge can reprimand them for that, and you certainly don’t want that. You want clients to look interested in what is going on and not look bored or angry, that kind of thing.”

She said she usually gives her clients a pad of paper and asks them to jot down notes if anything strikes them as odd or incorrect.

“I mean, one of the things that’s really hard as a defense attorney is your client wants to tell you things, and you’re in the middle of listening — listening really hard — and you can’t be distracted by that,” Bassil said.

Read’s case has generated widespread media attention and public interest amid a passionate “Free Karen Read” movement that has seen protesters gather near Norfolk Superior Court during hearings and trial dates.

A seasoned defense attorney who has tried a number of high-profile cases, Bassil recalled a similar level of public interest and media presence when she co-represented John Salvi III, who carried out fatal shootings at abortion clinics in Brookline in 1994. The presence of protesters, however, is somewhat unusual for a criminal trial in Greater Boston, she said.

“And this is a different era too, you know?” Bassil said. “You’re in the era of like text and Twitter and Instagram and all kinds of instant feeds, and I think that sort of changes how people perceive things as well and gins up interest, basically.”