25 Investigates: Full cost of Karen Read prosecution withheld by DA’s office

The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office sent 25 Investigates receipts and invoices showing it spent $43,985.05 prosecuting Karen Read but that figure does not include salaries, overtime, nor “records of expenditures that disclose confidential investigative strategies and techniques.”

On July 17th, 25 Investigates filed a public records request for, “all costs associated with the prosecution of Karen Read from her initial arrest on February 1, 2022, to July 2nd, 2024, broken down by type of expense.”

The period begins with Read’s arrest in connection with the death of her then Boston Police Officer boyfriend John O’Keefe in Canton and ends one day after a mistrial was declared in her 2nd-degree murder trial. Read is accused of striking O’Keefe with her SUV in January 2022 with her Lexus SUV. Her lawyers argue she’s been framed by law enforcement.

The Norfolk DA’s office responded to the records request Friday morning with documentation of payments made to four vendors and a court reporter.

Bode Technology, a DNA lab in Virginia was paid $16,734.06 for testing that found O’Keefe’s DNA on taillight pieces from the crime scene and for testing that determined a single strand of hair found on Read’s SUV matched O’Keefe’s.

The total payment Bode Labs received includes $2,300 for the testimony of 2 scientists who were witnesses for the prosecution at Read’s trial, and their travel expenses.

Other expenses include:

Hexordia, LLC (digital forensics / testimony)

$11,914.82

Venture Too, Inc. (analysis of Read’s Lexus)

$10,877.52

U.C. Davis Veterinary Medicine Lab (tested for dog DNA)

$4,430.15

The Norfolk DA’s Office said it withheld “records of expenditures that disclose confidential investigative strategies and techniques.” According to their records access officer, “these materials pertain to an active and ongoing criminal investigation… disclosure of these records would likely prejudice the effectiveness of law enforcement and is therefore not in the public interest.”

It’s unclear what “confidential investigative strategies and techniques,” have been used to prosecute Read or what costs may have been incurred.

As for employee hours, The DA’s office said it “does not allocate indirect costs, such as employee salaries, to individual cases.”

25 Investigates also wanted to know how much Read’s trial cost the Massachusetts Court System. A spokesperson said jurors are entitled to $50 a day after day 4 of a trial but the Court does not have any other figures from the trial.

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