BOSTON — An attorney for Aidan “Turtleboy” Kearney says that prosecutors are guilty of “doctoring evidence” against the Karen Read-focused blogger when securing indictments against him for witness intimidation.

“Mr. Kearney has been prejudiced by the nondisclosure and/or destruction of exculpatory and discoverable evidence,” attorney Mark Bederow writes in a new filing.

He adds that the evidence is “in support of the claim that the DA’s biased and shoddy investigation relied upon unvetted and possibly tampered evidence from a source with a patently obvious motive to falsely accuse Mr. Kearney and with a track record of doctoring evidence against him on at least two occasions.”

Kearney, 43, faces six felony charges of witness intimidation and four misdemeanor counts of picketing jurors or court officers related to his activism in the Read case. Two counts of witness intimidation, three counts of conspiracy and a count of picketing have been dismissed since he was indicted in December 2023.

Read, 45, was acquitted in June of three charges related to the killing of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, on Jan. 29, 2022. The jury convicted her of only drunken driving.

Kearney latched on early to a theory presented in an April 2023 court filing by Read’s defense team that suggested others had killed O’Keefe and moved on from there, publishing more than 500 articles in his “Canton Cover Up” series on Turtleboy Daily News and releasing hundreds of hours-long videos also covering the case.

In a new filing, Kearney attorney Mark Bederow says that Kearney reportage featured “relentless, blistering criticism of” the Norfolk district attorney, the Massachusetts State Police, “and the civilians whom Mr. Kearney (and many others) believe concealed the truth about Mr. O’Keefe’s death” and that his prosecution is a reprisal for the coverage.

Across an 88-page affidavit, Bederow makes numerous allegations regarding the prosecution of his client in support of motions to have the indictments dismissed and to disqualify special Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Mello from the case.

One call for dismissal hinges on his allegation that the state has repeatedly rebuffed defense efforts to obtain evidentiary materials necessary for a proper defense.

The other arguments have to do with Mello’s behavior. Bederow argues that Mello’s actions make him a possible witness in the case — which cited case law says should bar him from prosecuting it. He also alleges that Mello and law enforcement were meddling with the evidence presented to the grand jury that indicted Kearney on the witness intimidation charges.

“Mr. Mello’s direction of the grand jury proceeding made a mockery of Mr. Kearney’s right to due process, the cumulative impact of which impaired the integrity of the grand jury proceeding and prejudiced Mr. Kearney,” Bederow wrote.

Bederow accuses Mello of giving the grand jury “improper legal instructions,” that he “failed to give appropriate limiting instructions” and made other legal errors, including allegations of a crime for which he “did not seek an indictment.”

The Norfolk DA’s office did not immediately return a Herald request for comment sent Thursday afternoon.

_________

©2025 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at bostonherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.