A Massachusetts judge abruptly suspended a hearing ahead of Karen Read’s re-trial for the alleged murder of her cop boyfriend after prosecutors claimed two expert witnesses in the first trial had been paid more than $20,000 by Read’s defense team.

Judge Beverly Cannone said new information presented Tuesday by prosecutor Hank Brennan caused her “grave concern” that would impact the re-trial in the case involving the 2022 death of Read’s boyfriend, Boston cop John O’Keefe, WCVB reported.

Earlier in the hearing, Brennan asked that two accident reconstruction experts who testified in Read’s first trial be barred from returning. According to Brennan, the experts had been hired by federal investigators, had undisclosed communications with Read’s defense team, and had been paid $23,000.

Brennan read examples of some of the communications between the experts, who work for the “multidisciplinary engineering consulting firm” ARCCA LLC.

In one set of messages, the ARCCA witness praised the defense for its questioning and provided an outline of questions and answers to use during direct examination.

Prosecutors have accused Read of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow in January 2022.

She has maintained her innocence, with her defense arguing that O’Keefe wasn’t killed by Read, but was beaten to death by his cop buddies during a drunken brawl, and left in the snow with Read being made the scapegoat.

Brennan, the prosecutor, specifically mentioned testimony from ARCCA employee Daniel Wolfe, who said during Read’s first trial that he and his colleagues found the damage to Read’s SUV was not consistent with a pedestrian being struck.

“That’s getting duped. So, I didn’t know any of this, but I’ve tried a few cases. I’ve been around the federal court a little bit. I know how it works,” Brennan said Tuesday, later adding, “I don’t care if the ARCCA witnesses testified at trial. I don’t care about their opinions, but I care that it’s unfair, imbalanced, and hidden.”

What to know about the Karen Read murder case

• Karen Read, 44, was charged with second-degree murder for allegedly mowing down her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, as she was dropping him off to meet friends in Canton, Mass., on Jan. 29, 2022.
• The night of O’Keefe’s death, the couple had been out on a bar crawl, with Read allegedly consuming seven drinks in just 90 minutes, according to reports.
• Prosecutors claim that after Read drunkenly ran over her boyfriend, she drove off and left O’Keefe to die outside as a snowstorm was set to sweep in.
• Read’s lawyers argued she was framed in a sweeping law enforcement cover-up and that O’Keefe actually died after getting into an altercation with his officer friends.
• On July 1, 2024, Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial in the case since the jury was not able to reach a unanimous verdict after five days of deliberations.
• On April 22, 2025, Read will stand trial for the second time, facing the same charges despite her lawyers’ failed plea attempt to the top Mass. court to drop the murder and hit-and-run charges.
• Read faced up to life in prison if she had been convicted on the top count of murder.

After Brennan concluded his remarks, Cannone called for a recess. When she returned, she suspended the hearing, telling the court, “The commonwealth just provided the court with information that causes me grave concern.”

She continued: “The implications of that information may have profound effects on this defense and defense counsel. So for that reason, I’m going to suspend today so that when we meet again to address these issues, all affected will be appropriately prepared.”

Outside the courtroom, Read’s attorney Alan Jackson denied paying the experts to testify, TMZ reported.

A new hearing to discuss the issue has been scheduled for Feb. 25.