How much Karen Read special prosecutor Hank Brennan was paid
Hank Brennan, the special prosecutor in Karen Read's second trial, was paid more than half a million dollars in legal fees alone by taxpayers. The Norfolk County District Attorney hired Brennan, a top tier private lawyer, to prosecute the case in Read's retrial.
Hank Brennan paid $566,000
Invoices obtained by the WBZ I-Team show Brennan put in hundreds of hours of work and was paid $566,000 from November 1 to June 8. That does not include any payments to experts, outside investigators or outside evidence testing. Brennan charged $250 an hour.
Read was charged with killing her Boston police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe, in 2022. At the end of the first trial last year, jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict, and the judge declared a mistrial.
In the retrial, which began on April 22, Read was found not guilty of the most serious charges.
On June 18, on their fourth day of deliberations, jurors acquitted Read of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. She was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol. Judge Beverly Cannone sentenced Read to one year probation.
After the trial, Brennan released a statement saying he was "disappointed in the verdict and the fact that we could not achieve justice for John O'Keefe and his family."
The WBZ I-Team also asked for additional records involving other costs associated with the case but have not yet received them.
