Karen Read requests that the action be postponed until the conclusion of the criminal proceedings

If a stay is missing, “Ms. Read will be forced to decide whether to subject herself to disruption by refusing to testify in the lawsuit or to “waive her Fifth Amendment rights” in the lawsuit while the criminal case remains pending.

Lawyers for the family of O’Keefe, a Boston police officer who had a strained romantic relationship with Read at the time of his death, denounced the request for delay in a response, noting that Read is now increasing her Fifth Amendment privileges despite conversations to various media outlets about the case, including NBC, ABC, Vanity Fair and a “not yet released” Netflix documentary.

“Given her open willingness to speak publicly, Ms. Read’s current reliance on her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent appears to be less about avoiding self-incrimination and more about controlling the narrative to suit her interests,” the lawyers wrote, adding the right against self-incrimination “does not go hand in hand with the right to self-promotion.”

If Read were to invoke her Fifth Amendment rights during a deposition in the civil case, the plaintiffs said, “she could do so with consequences.” However, she wants to speak under oath [in the civil case] As freely as she is with the media and others, the plaintiff welcomes the opportunity to obtain her testimony.”

The standard of proof in a criminal trial is guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and jurors cannot draw negative inferences about a defendant invoking his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. The legal Standard in civil cases is more likely than not, and jurors may take a witness’s unwillingness to testify into account when assessing his or her credibility and deciding a matter.

In Read’s criminal case, she pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of bodily harm and death. Prosecutors allege she drove her Lexus SUV toward O’Keefe while drunk and angry early on Jan. 29, 2022, after abandoning it outside a home in Canton following an all-night bar crawl.

Lawyers for Read say she was framed and that O’Keefe entered the home, then owned by a Boston colleague, where he was fatally beaten in the basement before his body was dumped on the front lawn.

Read’s first trial ended in a mistrial in July when jurors said they were still deadlocked after several days of deliberations. Her retrial is currently scheduled for January.

Separately, the state Supreme Court is considering a request from Read’s defense attorneys to dismiss the murder case and leave the charges against her in place, on the grounds that several jurors told them, either directly or through intermediaries, that they unanimously agreed to it had to acquit them, that’s what counts.

Read’s team wants the SJC to overturn a lower court order denying her motion to dismiss. Court documents filed by both the defense and prosecution indicate that at least eight of the 12 jurors were prepared to convict her of manslaughter or one of his lesser crimes.

“In our civil case, only 5/6 of the jury, when tasked with determining the facts under a lower standard of proof (more likely than not), is required to find Read liable,” the O’Keefe family’s attorneys wrote in their appeal against request for delay.

“Two of those criminal jurors who kept ‘no’ there could easily have been persuaded to switch to ‘yes’ in the civil case here,” the attorneys wrote, due to the lower standard of proof.

Lawyers said the majority of jurors were prepared to convict of manslaughter despite the “media circus” that swirled around the trial.

But Read’s civil lawyers insisted that a stay of the lawsuit was warranted.

“MS. “Read’s ability to vigorously defend itself against criminal prosecution will be significantly impaired if this civil case continues while her criminal trial is taking place,” her attorneys wrote. “The only potential harm to plaintiffs is the inconvenience of a brief Time delay.”

It was not immediately clear when a decision would be made on Read’s request to postpone the lawsuit, but her attorneys said they would request a hearing on the matter.

This report used material from previous Globe stories.

Travis Andersen can be reached at [email protected].