Crime

Turtleboy blogger Aidan Kearney indicted on new charges in connection with Karen Read coverage

“I will fight these charges, I will be victorious, and it will go down in the history books as the greatest defense of the First Amendment in the history of journalism,” the blogger said.

"Turtleboy" blogger Aidan Kearney talks to reporters outside Stoughton District Court after his arraignment on witness intimidation charges in connection with his coverage of the Karen Read murder case. Matthew J. Lee/Boston Globe Staff, File

By Abby Patkin

Aidan Kearney is facing new charges after a Norfolk County grand jury indicted the controversial Turtleboy blogger on 16 criminal counts in connection with his coverage of the sensational murder case against Karen Read.

Accused of harassing several witnesses in Read’s case, Kearney was originally arrested in October and arraigned in Stoughton District Court. Late last month, special prosecutor Ken Mello suggested that Kearney would face additional conspiracy charges down the line and that a grand jury might soon bump his case up to Norfolk Superior Court. 

The Holden blogger is now charged with eight counts of witness intimidation, five counts of picketing a witness, and three counts of conspiracy to intimidate a witness, court records show. Boston.com has reached out to Mello for comment on the indictment. 

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Writing on Turtleboy Wednesday afternoon, Kearney said he is scheduled for arraignment in Norfolk Superior Court on Dec. 27, though he noted that he’s trying to get the date moved back because his attorney, Tim Bradl, will be out of town.

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“I knew this day would be coming, and always assumed I would be indicted,” Kearney wrote. “But let me be very clear — I am not deterred in the least. I will not give in, I will not surrender, and I will never plea. I will fight these charges, I will be victorious, and it will go down in the history books as the greatest defense of the First Amendment in the history of journalism.”

He claimed the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office is attempting to silence him for his reporting on the Read case, which spans 258 installments on the Turtleboy website.

Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, in January 2022. Prosecutors say she hit O’Keefe with her SUV and left him to die outside another Boston officer’s home in Canton, but Read’s lawyers argue that she’s being framed and that other guests at the home were to blame. 

Throughout his blogs, social media posts, and in-person rallies, Kearney has adopted the defense team’s claims of a police coverup and promoted the theory that Read was framed — a theory prosecutors have repeatedly denied.

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Mello, a Fall River lawyer appointed by Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey, previously alleged that the blogger has visited witnesses’ homes, shown up and “made scenes” at their children’s sporting events, and tried to confront them at their places of work. 

In one notable instance, Kearney allegedly conspired with a local police dispatcher in Avon to check the registered owners of vehicles that were parked outside the home of a Massachusetts State Police trooper who investigated O’Keefe’s death. 

In a brief phone interview, Bradl said Kearney’s superior court arraignment would likely happen sometime later next week, though the date is still up in the air. 

Pushing back on prosecutors’ claims, Bradl argued that Kearney’s actions fell under fundamental First Amendment rights. He further asserted that shifting the case to Norfolk Superior Court doesn’t strengthen prosecutors’ argument.

“In fact, often a defendant who probably shouldn’t have been indicted stands out as a small fish in superior court,” he said.

Bradl added: “This is a delay tactic to keep Mr. Kearney away from investigating the Read case and to drag this case out as long as possible.”

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Read is set to go to trial in March. 

In his blog post Wednesday, Kearney asserted that prosecutors “wanted to indict me before Christmas because Karen Read’s trial date is less than 3 months away, and they know that they are going to be badly exposed when that happens.”

On X — the social media platform previously known as Twitter — he referenced recent reports that federal authorities are probing the state’s investigation in the Read case. 

“I am not the least bit worried, but I would be if I were them,” Kearney wrote in one post.