The Streisand effect is an unintended consequence of attempts to hide, remove, or censor information, where the effort instead increases public awareness of the information.
I watched very little of the pre-trial arguments before the first trial of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs Karen Read. What first caught my eye was when Nofolk County District Attorney (NCDA) Michael Morrissey started whining to the feds because they pulled witnesses and investigators of the death of Boston police officer John O'Keefe (OJO) into a federal grand jury. Notably, the one person they did not make testify was Karen Read, the person the Commonwealth was actually charging for his murder. US attorney Joshua Levy told Morrisey's office that he "had a very different view" of the facts of the case.
Broad overview of facts:
- Boston police officer John O'Keefe was found responsive on the lawn of Boston police officer Brian Albert's 34 Fairview (Canton MA) on Jan 29, 2022.
- Karen Read, O'Keefe's girlfriend, arrested on Feb 1, 2022 and charged with manslaughter on Feb 2 2022.
- Federal grand jury Nov 2022 (See filings in CW of MA vs Brian Walshe)
- Journalist Aidan Kearney aka Turtleboy enters the picture April 2023
- Earliest letter to the federal government from DA Michael Morrissey - May 18, 2023
- Karen Read's charges upgraded to 2nd degree murder after a state grand jury - June 2023
- Michael Morrissey releases a "press statement" Aug 2023 (uploaded in Mar of 2024)
- Michael Morrissey fights like hell to keep his letters to the feds from being made public but loses in Jan of 2024.
- MSP trooper Michael Proctor testified in federal grand jury: - Feb of 2024
- Trail #1 and mistrial declared: Apr 2024 - June 2024
- Trial #2 set to begin April 1, 2025.
The Streisand effect of "Turtleboy"
While I do not remember when I first heard about Aidan Kearny aka Turtleboy it quickly became clear that he was the driving force behind garnering first statewide, then national and even international, attention for Karen Read and the deplorable way she's been treated by the Commonwealth of MA and it's agents. There is no way to have a meaningful conversation about the case without involving Aidan and his reporting. Why? Because the NCDA's office and it's SPDU (In Massachusetts, the state troopers who investigate for the district attorneys' offices are called State Police Detective Units (SPDUs).) were (and still are) so determined to silence him that he's become a household name for all those invested in the Karen Read trial. And mostly what he's asking is for folks to tell the truth.
What is going on in the NCDA's office?!
Yesterday, special ADA Hank Brennan filed documents seeking conversations between Karen and Aidan, calling them "consiousness of guilt." This is not the first time that the NCDA has made such ridiculous assertions. During the first trial:
Prosecutor Laura McLaughlin said the commonwealth intended to introduce a Google search Read conducted at 1:27 p.m. Jan. 29, 2022, before she was interviewed by police, for DUI attorneys.
McLaughlin argued that the search was an indication of Read’s “consciousness of guilt” at the time, and did not constitute a communication with an attorney.
“The defense has been that the defendant was framed, she had no intent or opportunity to commit these crimes, and further that she was not intoxicated at the time,” McLaughlin said.
Defense attorney David Yannetti said Read’s call log showed a call from Trooper Michael Proctor eight minutes before this Google search. He said simply searching for an attorney did not reflect at all on Read’s guilt. Citation
How on earth could any decent attorney attempt to use someone's right to seek counsel as consciousness of guilt?!
During a brief charging conference Monday, Assistant District Attorney Laura McLaughlin said Read’s actions point to a consciousness of guilt. She specifically cited Read’s decision to move her car to her parents’ home on Jan. 29, as well as questions surrounding missing Ring home surveillance footage from O’Keefe’s house in Canton.
However, defense attorney David Yannetti said the notion Read had something to do with the missing Ring footage was a “red herring.”
“This is the one case, I think a very rare case, where there’s much more consciousness of guilt evidence with regard to the commonwealth’s own witnesses than there is with regard to the defendant in a criminal case,” he argued. Citation
The CW knew, or should have known, that Karen did not have access to the Ring app. And if she were trying to "hide" the "murder weapon" then taking it to her own parents' house was incredibly short sighted, IMO.
I guess we can't really blame McLaughlin for her ick inducing arguments after the example set by her boss in his Aug 2023 statement (linked above in the timeline). You'd think the specially appointed NCDA Hank Brennan would avoid the same silliness but that doesn't seem to be the case.
A state grand jury heard evidence about this supposed "conspiracy" and returned a "no bill." Meaning that an entity that would "indict a ham sandwich" said, "nope" this time. Give it up, Hank. If you had actual evidence against Karen Read, you wouldn't need this nonsense.