The Karen Read trial continues into its third week of testimony, featuring both new and previous witnesses recounting the events of Jan. 2022.

Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, off-duty Boston police officer John O’Keefe, by striking him with her SUV and leaving him outside a home in Canton, Mass.

The judge overseeing the trial is Judge Beverly Cannone, who initially presided over the case last summer. The trial was declared a mistrial after the jury reported it was deadlocked.

We’ll take a look at her background, some of the other cases she has overseen, and reactions from social media.

Who is Judge Beverly Cannone?

Cannone was was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, and is a resident of Norwell. She attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst and earned her bachelor’s degree in 1982. She later received her Juris Doctor from the New England School of Law in 1985.

Her late father, John Prescott, also worked as a prosecutor in Norfolk County and as a public defender for the Massachusetts Defenders Committee in Boston.

After graduating from law school, Cannone began her career as a staff attorney for the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS). She served as a certified member of the CPCS Murder Team and was the attorney-in-charge of the Dedham office.

Cannone spent the majority of her legal career as a public defender, representing clients who could not afford private attorneys.

In 2002, Cannone recieved the Massachusetts Bar Association Access to Justice Defender of the Year award. The award recognizes and honors attorneys who have made a significant contribution to providing criminal legal services to low income clients while going above and beyond their regular duties.

In 2009, Cannone was appointed as an associate justice of the Massachusetts District Court in Quincy by then-Gov. Deval Patrick. She held assignments on the Education and Mental Health committees until 2014.

Patrick nominated her again on April 16, 2014, to serve as an associate justice for the Norfolk County Superior Court, filling the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Thomas R. Murtagh. The nomination was confirmed by the Governor’s Council in May.

What court cases has Cannone oversaw in the past?

As Cannone oversees the retrial of Karen Read from the bench of her own courtroom, she is tasked with ensuring that Read receives a fair trial, despite the case’s high-profile nature.

Yet, this is not the first high-profile case Cannone has presided over.

Cannone oversaw both trials for Emanuel Lopes. Lopes was charged with killing a police sergeant and an innocent elderly bystander in Weymouth, Mass., back in July 2018.

Cannone declared a mistrial in 2023 when a jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict, a situation similar to Read’s first trial.

A second trial was reconducted in 2014. During the week of Feb. 11, the jury sent notes to Cannone indicating it had not yet reached a decision, but she instructed them to continue deliberating.

On Feb. 16, the jury found Lopes guilty. Cannone sentenced the 26-year-old to consecutive life sentences and ruled he would not be eligible for parole until age 60, citing the “very powerful” victim impact statements in her decision.

The 19-page lawsuit, filed on behalf of three inmates at the security prison in Lancaster, Mass., alleged that Department of Correction officials violated the prisoners’ constitutional rights during a weeks-long lockdown by restricting attorney visits and phone calls.

Cannone, who held two days of hearings in the case, sided with the attorneys representing the inmates in in a 30-page ruling. She ruled that the inmates must be allowed to possess their legal paperwork, granted sufficient time to make phone calls and permitted to have contact visits with their attorneys.

Despite her career, social media calls Cannone’s impartiality into question

As the Karen Read trial continues, questions rose across social media that the jury may not the one to show bias, but Cannone herself.

On TikTok, Cannone is known as “Aunt Bev” where on X (formerly Twitter), users critique Cannone with accusations of corruption and bias, including one of the key faces of the “Free Karen Read” movement, Aidan “Turtleboy” Kearney.

Some users have even questioned whether the same judge can preside over the same case twice. The answer is yes — a judge can oversee a case more than once, particularly following a mistrial, provided they remain impartial and there is no conflict of interest. Judges are expected to recuse themselves if there is a legitimate concern regarding their impartiality.

In July 2023, Cannone denied a motion from Read’s defense attorneys requesting her recusal. The motion cited an exchange between witness Jennifer McCabe and Kearney.

Cannone shot down the request from defense attorneys to recuse herself in July 2023 based on Read’s lawyers showing an exchange by witness Jennifer McCabe and Turtleboy.

“And doesn’t that underscore the fact that anybody can say or write anything and try to make it the basis of a motion to recuse? And I think it points out that this motion to recuse is not credible,” Cannone said.

Social media reactions are often swift and emotionally charged, especially in high-profile cases like this one. Still, the integrity of the judicial process depends on facts, not speculation.

As the trial proceeds, Judge Cannone’s role remains under scrutiny, but so far, she continues to successfully handle what comes her way.