Did Karen Read's Team Mislead the Court?
Briefing: Defense admits to paying ARCCA experts $23,925.
Not gonna lie…
I expected more from last week’s hearing.
It ended up feeling like a 5-hour work meeting that could have easily been an email.
On top of that —
We are now heading into a third day (Tuesday 3/4/25) for the continuance of the hearing regarding the defense’s relationship with the ARCCA experts.
(Note: Several places you can livestream it on YouTube are: Law & Crime, CourtTv, and if you like a little bit of commentary during breaks, Yellow Cottage Tale. Also, If you need to brush up on what the initial concerns are over ARCCA and the defense, you can head HERE for my last newsletter.)
Here are the highlights gathered from the last hearing (2/25/25):
Defense attorney, Robert Alessi, spoke for the majority of the day in court. He started off by saying he will not obfuscate, and then he obfuscated for hours.
It was a long-winded and not-so-scenic route to the main points, but he finally got there.
Sort of.
Prosecutor Brennan filled in some gaps on billing and communication dates that Alessi didn’t cover, but overall, the picture was painted for us.
Here are the main questions we all wanted clarity on…
Did the defense pay ARCCA?
Yes, they paid the ARCCA experts close to $24,000 last July 2024. Despite Karen Read supporters demanding last week that the expenses were only for travel, the defense admitted in court that they paid them for more than that.
Alessi states they paid ARCCA for their ‘time’, but tries to emphasize that it was not for their testimony. Technically, this is how all expert witnesses are paid… for their time. The semantics chosen here seems a bit disingenuous.
The defense stated that they didn’t know they were expected to pay the experts until the bill was sent in July. When they received the bill, they reached out to the State Attorney’s Office to see if they can make that payment, and they were told, yes.
The problem is…
The defense never disclosed this info to the court. At all.
In fact —
A recent motion signed by the defense attorneys continued to mislead the court by claiming ARCCA was ‘unpaid’.
(Since this last hearing, defense filed a correction on 3/3/25 that states the the law clerk typed the misleading statement, and it meant to say they were unpaid for their research & analysis. Despite this, the attorneys had signed off on it.)
Did the defense break the federal protective order?
It appears like they may have, however, we will need the final word on that from the judge.
The public doesn’t have access to what the federal protective order says, but the attorneys have mentioned the content several times. What we can gather from it is that nothing was to be discussed about the federal report outside of court, and “prepping” with the experts was specifically outlined as not allowed.
There are billed hours from ARCCA that started back on 5/1/24 including phone calls between ARCCA expert, Daniel Wolfe, and defense attorney Alan Jackson. The content of those calls is unknown. An outline was also provided from Wolfe to Alan Jackson that was never shared with the prosecution until recently.
There are also hours billed for prepping for both experts, but it is unclear - as of right now - if the prepping was independent, or if it included the defense.
What we do know is Dr. Wolfe showed extreme favoritism with the defense in those communications. Here are some of his quotes pulled from different moments:
“If you don't want me to say this, that's fine.”
“Yes, I've realized in my testimony that I said it was 20 times when you have asked how many I've been qualified for. I misinterpreted the question. My fault. 11 trials, seven depositions. Not sure if you want me to clear that up.”
“… feel free to make whatever changes you feel necessary.”
[regarding his D & T List]
Did the defense mislead the court?
Again, we have to wait for the judge to make that final conclusion, BUT I think it’s fair to say that they were not forthcoming regarding their relationship and dealings with ARCCA.
Not only was the paid bill of near $24,000 never disclosed until the state attorney’s office emailed the defense and prosecution, but the hours billed began prior to the voir dire.
5/01/24 - Hours billed for ARCCA’s time.
6/09/24 - Hours billed for ARCCA’s time.
6/18/24 - The voir dire with ARCCA experts.
During the voir dire and trial, the line of questioning from the defense may technically not be false (ex: Have you met me face to face? No. Have you been paid to testify? No.), but it clearly danced around the full truth.
I’m not sure what is left to discuss in the hearing, but I imagine that the judge has very direct questions she may be asking the attorneys to get to the heart of the issue. If she finds that the defense intentionally misled the court, she may send Alan Jackson and Elizabeth Little packing back to CA…
BUT—
It’s hard to imagine she will do that.
The trial is suppose to start in 4 weeks, and if Karen’s attorneys get removed, it will likely be another 6+ months for the second trial.
I don’t think anyone wants that.
Let’s hope Judge Cannone finds the best solution for all this while also moving things along.
As if this courtroom drama isn’t enough, there were some big motions and oppositions filed recently… The defense filed their motion to dismiss for Egregious Government Misconduct, and the prosecution filed their Opposition. I’m not entirely sure when this will be argued, but I will update you when it is.
(Source of profile photo: unknown)
