November 6, 2024
Livestream: Karen Learn returns to courtroom as attorneys search to unseal letters between DA and feds

Crime

The high-profile homicide case returns to courtroom Friday morning for a motions listening to.

Karen Learn, the Mansfield girl charged with homicide within the loss of life of Boston police officer John O’Keefe, appeared in Norfolk County Superior Court docket for a pre-trial listening to on Might 3, 2023. She stood on the entrance steps together with her attorneys after the listening to. John Tlumacki/Boston Globe Employees, File

Attorneys for Karen Learn need to unseal communication between the Norfolk County District Lawyer’s Workplace and federal authorities — one in all a number of motions a choose is slated to take up Friday morning as Learn’s case returns to courtroom. 

In line with the protection, prosecutors turned over six letters between Norfolk District Lawyer Michael Morrissey’s workplace and federal authorities as a part of discovery, the proof prosecutors present to a defendant earlier than trial. 

Prosecutors have filed a movement to seal these letters, however Learn’s attorneys need them made publicly accessible. 

In a movement filed in Norfolk Superior Court docket Tuesday, the attorneys mentioned the letters embody communication between the DA’s workplace, the U.S. Division of Justice Workplace of Skilled Duty, and the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the District of Massachusetts. 

Notably, the disclosure of the letters final month coincided with studies that federal prosecutors are conducting an inquiry into Learn’s arrest and prosecution. 

The Mansfield girl is accused of backing her SUV into her boyfriend — Boston police officer John O’Keefe — whereas dropping him off in Canton following an evening out with pals in January 2022. Prosecutors say Learn left O’Keefe to die within the snow exterior a fellow Boston police officer’s house, however Learn’s attorneys have alleged a coverup and declare different afterparty company are accountable.

In Tuesday’s movement, Learn’s attorneys accused prosecutors of making an attempt to disseminate solely the parts of the letters that replicate favorably on the DA’s workplace. 

“For the reason that Letters are within the public curiosity, and because the Commonwealth has not met its burden in establishing that an exemption applies, the Letters — like each different non-impounded doc on this case — ought to be accessible for public assessment and scrutiny,” the attorneys argued. 

Responding to studies of a federal probe within the Learn case, Morrissey beforehand issued a press release emphasizing his confidence within the state’s prosecution.

“The US Lawyer’s Workplace doesn’t have jurisdiction over a state homicide case, so that is a rare step on their half,” Morrissey mentioned final month. “I’m unconcerned as a result of I’ve confidence in what we’ve performed and what folks have advised us.”