Karen Read's Second Trial Comes With a New Attorney Who Has Previously Worked RICO Cases

The first Karen Read trial ended in a mistrial in July 2024, after a hung jury could not decide whether or not the Massachusetts woman killed her boyfriend. In the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2022, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe was found dead outside the Canton home of fellow officer Brian Albert. What followed was madness and confusion as Read was arrested twice, and ultimately charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide, and leaving the scene of a deadly crash.

The defense argued that Read was the target of a cover-up by law enforcement agents across multiple agencies. This has divided a town in half, with some believing Read is as much of a victim as O'Keefe, while others think she ran her boyfriend over and left him to die in the cold. In April 2025, Read's second trial began and featured a few new faces. One of them is attorney Robert Alessi. Here's what we know about the new lawyer on Read's legal defense team.

Alessi is a partner at DLA Piper LLC, a full-service law firm with offices in over 40 countries. He is based out of their New York office and serves as the Global Vice Chair of their energy sector. Per his bio, he handles "energy, environmental and financial services matters — be they the defense of government criminal and enforcement actions, judicial and administrative trials and appellate litigation, regulatory compliance, project development, or major transactions."

In the past, Alessi represented the governmental entity charged with planning the rebuilding and revitalization of the World Trade Center and Lower Manhattan in the aftermath of 9/11. He has also dealt with "multiple federal and state court actions arising out of one of the largest bank frauds nationwide." It's possible Alessi was hired to defend Read due to his ability to cross-examine experts using his scientific and technical background.

Kerry Roberts is a key witness who took the stand on the first day of Read's retrial. She was very close to O'Keefe and was a lifelong friend. Due to the attention this story has gotten, with people defending Read, Roberts thinks it's important to remind people who the real victim is. She spoke with Good Morning America about how these trials have caused the world to forget about O'Keefe.

"He is the victim," said Roberts to ABC News's Matt Gutman in the interview. "He's lost his life. He's not coming back." Roberts was one of the first people Read called when she realized O'Keefe had not come home. After they spoke, Roberts called another friend named Brendan Kane and told him everything Read said to her. "The first phone call was, 'John's dead.' Then she hung up," Roberts said to GMA. "Then she called back and said, 'I think he got hit by a plow."

Both the prosecution and defense are using this conversation in their arguments. The defense says this was Read admitting to the crime, while her attorneys say these were the words of a concerned girlfriend who was voicing her worst fears. "We're John's closest friends and family, and we still haven't been able to grieve because of all of this," explained Roberts. "It's all lost on this circus."