Was Karen Read’s interview a good idea? Legal expert weighs in

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — ABC 6 News Legal Analyst Ken Schreiber wants to remind people that anything they say can and will be used against them in a court of law, especially when they say it on a platform as big as 20/20.

However, he said that the Karen Read interview may have been a smart legal move by her defense team, as Read gave her first extensive comments since the jury deadlocked in her initial trial.

“I had felt like I had alcohol, I felt that I had a buzz, but I did not feel that it was unsafe for me to be operating my vehicle,” she said.

Schreiber, of ‘Schreiber and Schreiber’ in Cranston, said Read’s decision to interview on national television was unusual.

“In many cases like this, national cases, you have the lawyers speak for you, so it is very unusual,” he said. “Especially when you say it in a public forum like this.”

Despite the risk, the lawyer added that he’s sure Read’s high-powered team made the necessary preparations.

“I would be surprised if anything she said would incriminate her, because I think she read anything she said by her attorney before she said it,” Schreiber said. “I would hope so.”

He said the interview could be a sign of a defense on the offensive

“Her lawyer is almost saying to the district attorney, ‘You know what, try it again if you want, we’re gonna get the same decision if not a better one the second time,'” Schreiber said. “It’s a fascinating defense, and if any of it is true, that doesn’t speak well, which is that it’s a coverup by the police department.”

He also thinks Read’s team may have the edge with a second trial on deck.

“It’s always good when you get a preview, so you’ve got everybody under oath, you know that each and every witness that testified at the first trial,” Schreiber said. “You may not have known what exactly he or she was going to say before they said it, now you know.”

He added that he thinks that the second verdict may be very similar to the first one.

A key difference is that one of the state’s key witnesses, Trooper Michael Proctor, was suspended without pay in July after Massachusetts State Police pulled him off the job following the first trial.