About This Archive

What This Is

A searchable, cross-referenced archive of both Commonwealth v. Karen Read criminal trials: 140,889 lines across 71 trial days. Where broadcast coverage and a timestamp are available, a transcript line can link to the corresponding video passage.

Transcript Sources & Coverage

Transcript text comes from official court-reporter PDFs where they are available. Portions without reporter coverage use YouTube captions from Law&Crime Network and Court TV trial broadcasts. The source for each line is identified in the transcript viewer.

Within a reporter-covered range, the official transcript supplies the text. Caption-derived portions are a listening aid and can contain errors or omissions.

Official reporter PDFs cover 38 full trial days and portions of 6 more. The remaining 27 days use corrected captions. Reporter PDFs also supply the text for 359 sidebar discussions, including conversations that courtroom broadcasts did not capture clearly.

On partial-PDF days, the available reporter passages replace captions only for those portions of the record. The rest remains caption-based. Full-day PDFs are still needed for the caption-based days and for the uncovered portions of partial days. Sidebar coverage follows the available source passages; this is not a complete inventory of every sidebar held at trial.

Supporting Material

Summaries, profiles, timelines, and other guides are separate from the transcript. Some are produced with AI assistance and may contain errors or miss important context; use the transcript and cited records for important questions.

Video Sync

Use the Video toggle in a transcript to open the courtroom broadcast. Where a line has a timestamp, it links to the corresponding video passage. The Sync transcript to video checkbox follows the transcript as video plays. Timing is approximate, and some reporter passages, especially sidebars, were not captured in the broadcast audio.

Known Limitations

• Caption-derived speaker attribution is imperfect. Some voices are difficult to distinguish, and errors may remain outside reporter-covered ranges.
• Caption-derived content can be missing. Sections are occasionally lost during witness transitions or poor audio. Known gaps are documented; others may exist where no official reporter source has been added.
• Caption-derived proceeding boundaries can be approximate. Transitions and overlapping speakers can be difficult to identify where reporter coverage is unavailable.
• Source quality varies. Reporter-covered text is reproduced from the official PDF. Caption-derived text is less reliable around mumbled asides, overlapping speech, and technical jargon.

If you find an error, use the Report an Issue button in the footer.

Disclaimer

This site is not a certified legal transcript and is not a substitute for the court record. For important use, follow the source shown on the line and verify it against the official reporter transcript or original video as applicable.

This project is not affiliated with any party to the case, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, or any law firm. Its transcript sources include official court reporter records and publicly broadcast courtroom footage.

The full statement, including reuse, citation, and removal requests, is on the Terms of Use page.

Contact

Found an error? Have a question? Use the Report an Issue button on any page, or email contact@commonwealthvread.com.

To support ongoing archive hosting and preservation, visit ko-fi.com/courtdaemon.