More charges for Turtleboy? Prosecutor speaks on future of provocative blogger’s case.

“Turtleboy” blogger Aidan Kearney is set to face additional conspiracy charges as investigators dig into his controversial coverage of the murder case against Karen Read, a special prosecutor said Tuesday.

Kearney is already charged with multiple counts of witness intimidation and picketing witnesses in the Read case, in addition to one conspiracy charge. He was back in Stoughton District Court Tuesday to request the return of electronic devices seized during his October arrest. 

Kearney’s attorney, Tim Bradl, described the confiscated phones and computers as the “tools of his trade,” per WCVB footage of the hearing. He said the devices are “filled with a career’s worth of journalistic activity — information from sources, all sorts of videos, compilations, research for ongoing stories.”

Bradl asserted that the devices contain Kearney’s consultations with attorneys and may also have information from police sources regarding the Read case. He argued that the physical devices are of minimal evidentiary value, as investigators can make a “mirror image” of the data within. 

Yet special prosecutor Ken Mello told the court that authorities have not yet mirrored all of the material from the electronics. He also suggested that returning the electronics could result in challenges later on if Kearney were to delete information from the devices and then claim that investigators’ copy of the data is inaccurate or fabricated. 

Addressing Bradl’s claim about police sources, he added: “As a matter of fact, one of those police sources is the reason we have a conspiracy charge now pending against the defendant. And there will also be further charges of conspiracy filed.” Specifically, prosecutors claim that Kearney conspired with an Avon police dispatcher to check the registered owners of vehicles parked outside the home of the lead investigator in Read’s case. 

Mello also suggested that Kearney’s electronic devices contain other confidential material, potentially including leaked grand jury minutes.

“The equipment seized is evidence, and not having that equipment has not stopped Mr. Kearney one single bit,” Mello said. “He is blogging away on the internet on a variety of different sites, on a variety of different Facebook pages, on Twitter, on YouTube, on a number of other locations as well, from my understanding. He’s going at it several hours a day. He’s generating hours’ worth of material.”

Prosecutor: Grand jury proceedings against Turtleboy are underway

At the center of Kearney’s case is his coverage of the murder charge against Read, who is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe. Prosecutors say Read struck O’Keefe with her SUV and left him to die outside the Canton home of another Boston police officer in January 2022. 

Kearney has been outspoken in Read’s defense, selling “Free Karen Read” merchandise and publishing more than 200 installments in a series about the Mansfield woman’s case. He’s also adopted the defense team’s claims of a police coverup and promoted the theory that Read was framed for O’Keefe’s death — a theory prosecutors have repeatedly denied. 

“Mr. Kearney identifies himself, your honor, alternatively as a journalist, as an activist, as an advocate, and he uses several other terms to identify himself,” Mello said. “We’re not here, judge, because of any legitimate journalistic activity on the part of Mr. Kearney. None. We’re looking at — strictly, judge — crimes committed by this defendant, including the intimidation of witnesses.”

Bradl, however, has asserted that his client’s actions were protected under the First Amendment. 

“We contend that this prosecution is entirely a pretextual, unlawful attempt to silence Mr. Kearney with the machinery of the state, your honor,” Bradl said. 

He has described some of Kearney’s provocative and confrontational methods — ambushing witnesses at their children’s sporting events, for example — as “time-honored journalistic tactics.”

Yet Mello contended that “there’s nothing time-honored about running down the street with a bullhorn, screaming at a state trooper who just left the court. There’s nothing time-honored, judge, about an individual going to a local restaurant and telling passersby that they should not go in because there’s blood in the pizza. That’s what we have here. We have a number of instances very similar to that.”

Mello also suggested that Kearney’s case may not remain in Stoughton District Court for much longer, telling the judge that grand jury proceedings are underway. If Kearney is indicted, his case would shift over to the superior court.

Judge Brian Walsh ultimately denied the defense team’s motion and suggested both sides take the issue of Kearney’s devices up with Norfolk Superior Court. The blogger is due back in Stoughton District Court next Tuesday for a pretrial hearing.