Now that’s attorney-client privilege.
Karen Read was spotted cuddling up to her attorney Alan Jackson outside a high-end Boston steakhouse last week as jurors deliberated over whether she murdered her Boston cop boyfriend in 2022.
The iPhone live photo appeared to capture Jackson, a star criminal defense attorney from Los Angeles, wrapping his client in an embrace — with one arm around her midsection and another tight across her chest — on June 27 outside Smith & Wollensky in downtown Beantown.
In the 1.5-second clip, Read, 44, appeared to smile as Jackson — who wore a wedding ring throughout the trial — grabs her while they watch two other people pose for a photo outside the restaurant.
The Post has verified that the metadata of the original photo shows it was taken in the area of the steakhouse as the jury deliberated.
“I was eating dinner with my wife and I happened to look out and see them outside, and it looked wrong and inappropriate so I just grabbed the closest phone and took a picture,” said the photographer, who did not want to be named.
“It was just her attorney kinda I don’t know what you would call it. It looked inappropriate for an attorney-client type situation.”
The Smith & Wollensky where the snap was taken is not far from a North End restaurant where Read and Jackson were earlier photographed dining with members of the legal team, and wearing the same outfits seen in the embrace photo – a dark sleeveless top on Read, and a navy blue T-shirt and blue jeans on Jackson.
Before the embrace, Read was being beckoned to join two people for a photo. Those people’s outfits — a blue collared shirt and dark shoes on one man, and a rectangular black watch on the other — matched the same outfits worn by the others in the North End dinner photo.
The photo was publicized on the X account Masshole Media run by Kate Peter, who told The Post she was one of several people who obtained the shot.
Peter has been vocal in her belief that Read is guilty of killing Officer John O’Keefe, and runs the account as one of several partisan social media pages that have cropped up in the wake of the high-profile investigation.
O’Keefe was found dead in a snowbank in Canton, Massachusetts — outside Boston — in January 2022. Prosecutors alleged Read hit O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV and left him for dead in the cold after a night of heavy drinking.
Read hired a high-profile legal team, including Jackson — a high-flying former LA County prosecutor who went on to represent big-name clients, including Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey.
Jackson married Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Lisa Kassabian in 2011.
In the Read case, Jackson argued the charges were a stitch-up by local cops who were out to “pin it on the girl” and claimed that O’Keefe died during a confrontation with his police pals.
Read’s defense has won legions of supporters, who gathered in the hundreds outside court each day to protest her innocence.
The months-long, live-streamed trial was a sensation in the Boston area.
Jackson’s argument also appears to have won over at least some members of the jury.
On Monday, the judge ruled the case a mistrial after jurors couldn’t agree on a unanimous verdict. The Norfolk County District Attorney said he plans to retry the case.
Peter said she uploaded the photo to social media, but because she used an Android device, the image uploaded with glitches.
As a result, Read supporters claimed it was fake or AI-generated.
Neither Jackson or Read responded to requests for comment from The Post on Tuesday.
