The division in Canton over the Karen Read murder case has become so bad and “hate-filled” that the local paper is putting a hold on publishing any letters related to it.
“(A)fter 15 months of providing residents a forum to express their opinions on the Karen Read case, I believe the sometimes hate-filled letters are creating more hate in a town that is truly suffering,” Canton Citizen publisher and editor Beth Erickson wrote in Thursday’s issue of the weekly newspaper. “Because of this, the Citizen is placing a moratorium on any letters or columns related to the trial or the police audit between this week and at least the first week in September.”
Erickson added that the Citizen “will, of course, continue to publish (and welcome!) letters that are not related to the above topics.”
The trial of Read, 44, of Mansfield, ended in a mistrial July 1, on the fifth day of deliberations following a nine-week trial. She is indicted on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. A status hearing is scheduled for July 22 where a new trial date is expected to be set.
She is accused of killing Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, her boyfriend of two years, by striking him with her SUV and leaving him to die on a Canton front yard during a major snowstorm on Jan. 29, 2022. Her defense attorneys alleged a conspiracy in which others killed O’Keefe and worked with state and local cops to frame Read.
The case has garnered national attention, but Canton, where O’Keefe lived and died, is the epicenter of white-hot debate and vitriol in the case where fallout continues daily and every part of the town seems affected.
The most obvious fallout is the reputational damage to the Massachusetts State Police, which was in charge of the case. Lead investigator Trooper Michael Proctor, who was already under internal review, was this week suspended without pay; the leader of the agency itself said that it may face “additional scrutiny”; the governor has voiced concerns; and an agency watchdog is demanding a probe of the agency.
The impassioned clash between partisans on either side of Read’s guilt or innocence doesn’t just hide behind screens — though even a short wade into related posts on X could leave anyone feeling deflated — but was on full display outside the courthouse throughout the trial and well before.
And it extends into the underworkings of the town itself. Christopher Albert, a town Select Board member, says he will hold himself to a higher standard following “two recent verbal altercations with members of the public” regarding the case. Christopher Albert was a prosecution witness.
His brother, Kevin Albert, is on paid administrative leave from the local police department for alleged actions of his that were uncovered during the trial. Both are brothers to Brian Albert, the then-homeowner of 34 Fairview Road in Canton, on whose lawn O’Keefe’s body was found, and a central figure in the defense’s conspiracy theory.
