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A grand juror in a federal proceeding related to the Karen Read case in suburban Boston has been charged with leaking confidential information about closed-door hearings.
Jessica Leslie has already agreed to a plea deal that includes a single-day sentence, for which she will be credited time served, according to court documents, plus two years of probation, court records show.
The case was filed on July 11, and she signed the plea deal three days later.
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Jurors found Read not guilty of all homicide-related charges in the death of her former boyfriend, former Boston cop John O’Keefe, whom prosecutors alleged had been killed in a collision with Read’s SUV.
Read’s defense denied the vehicle ever struck him.
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Jurors rejected most of the state’s case and found her guilty of drunken driving.
Read the federal complaint:
Federal prosecutors said that between August 2022 and March 2024, Leslie leaked details from a grand jury proceeding to multiple people in violation of a judge’s May 26, 2022, order — spilling the names of witnesses who appeared before the panel, details of their testimony and other evidence that was under seal.
The recipients of the leaks were not identified in court documents.
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While the filings do not specifically identify the case Leslie was a grand juror on, a source close to the investigation confirmed to Fox News Digital it was related to Karen Read.
Read’s first trial on charges of murder, drunken driving manslaughter and fleeing the scene of a deadly accident ended with a deadlocked jury last year. A second trial cleared her of the most serious charges.
She is still facing a wrongful death lawsuit brought by O’Keefe’s family. The lawsuit also names two bars Read and O’Keefe were drinking at in the hours before his death – C.F McCarthy’s and the Waterfall Bare and Grille, both in Canton.
The O’Keefes filed the lawsuit in August 2024, after Read’s first trial ended with a deadlocked jury. The court put it on hold until her second trial ended.
Read is accused of “knowingly and deliberately” changing her story, concocting “a conspiracy” and publicizing a “false narrative, thereby frustrating Justice for JJ.”
JJ was O’Keefe’s nickname, and the family alleges Read’s narrative caused them “aggravated emotional distress.”
Read’s civil lawyers asked a judge to dismiss the case last week.
Read the full article here
