A retired Massachusetts Superior Court judge says ABC’s “20/20” episode on the highly publicized Karen Read murder case will make it more difficult for there to be a fair retrial, but the overall impact will be “small.”

Jack Lu, a former 16-year Superior Court judge, told the Herald on Saturday that he believes Friday night’s episode played 60% in favor of the defense and 40% on the side of the prosecution, calling the show “pure gold” for Read ahead of the anticipated retrial in January.

Though the case is prominent for true crime fans and anti-police-corruption activists across Greater Boston and the country, Lu said the heightened publicity won’t interfere with what jurors are tasked to do in deciding a verdict on evidence and not outside noise.

“I’ve seen it hundreds of times that (jurors) are inspired by the process to do this very difficult, really high-level group decision-making that I can guarantee are in good faith,” Lu said. “That good faith, inspiration and team ethic … helps them overcome the things they hear outside of the courtroom.”

“That show will have a small impact,” he added of the 20/20 episode. “It will make it more difficult to get a fair trial, but it will mean just a little more work. … It’s a rare case where you cannot get a fair trial, they do happen, but this is not one of them.”

Friday’s “Karen Read: The Perfect Storm” special included interviews with Read from throughout the trial and beyond and those with John O’Keefe’s family and close friends.

Prosecutors allege Read, 44, struck O’Keefe, her Boston police officer boyfriend of two years, with her SUV following a drunken argument and left him to die in a late January 2022 snowstorm in Canton.

O’Keefe died at the age of 46.

Defense attorneys counter that outside actors killed O’Keefe and conspired with state and local police to frame Read for his murder.

Read was tried in Norfolk Superior Court earlier this year for O’Keefe’s murder but it ended in mistrial. She is scheduled to be retried in January on the same charges: second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter and leaving the scene of a collision causing O’Keefe’s death.

Lu, who said he doesn’t have an opinion on Read’s innocence or guilt, commended 20/20 producers for humanizing Read and the O’Keefe family, saying jury decisions are driven by “pure logic” and a “pre-rationale emotional assessment.”

“This is no life,” Read said in a scene showing her preparing for the trial in a hotel room. “I’m not in prison, but this is no life. I’m stressed every day. I’m waiting for the next shoe to drop. It just feels like a kind of purgatory.”

Lu, who also spent six years in Boston Municipal Court, pointed to that scene specifically in how the episode captured Read’s emotions.

“That’s valuable to that motive decision-making that jurors have which has more to do with emotion and pre-rationale urges,” he said. “It could get to be pretty funky, but … likability and humanity are very important in any trial.”

Read maintained her innocence in O’Keefe’s death during a pre-trial interview with ABC reporter Matt Gutman, acknowledging how she “felt that I had a buzz, but I did not feel it was unsafe to be operating my vehicle.”

Read admitted that she was angry at O’Keefe. Prosecutors have said that she hit her boyfriend with her car following yet another blowout argument in the deeply troubled relationship.

“Did you kill John O’Keefe?” Gutman asked.

“I did not kill John O’Keefe,” Read replied. “I’ve never harmed a hair on John O’Keefe’s head.”

Followers of the case reacted to the episode on social media, saying they felt producers missed out on essential aspects.

Some parts of the case not mentioned in the show include the FBI’s involvement with a separate ongoing investigation, juror intimidation, and the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office also investigating the highly publicized Sandra Birchmore case.

Some viewers were also concerned that people the defense pointed to as alternative suspects for O’Keefe’s death, specifically the McCabe and Albert families of Canton, were interviewed during the episode that lasted roughly an hour and 20 minutes.

Speaking alongside her family, O’Keefe’s cousin Renay said she believes the 16-year Boston Police officer was “lost in this whole circus,” referring to the mainstream publicity of the case and Read’s supporters who’ve held demonstrations outside of court and elsewhere.

“He was lost in this whole circus,” Renay said in a group interview. “And I think none of us want him to be lost. I think that’s the saddest part of this whole situation, that he’s not remembered as who he is and who he was during this whole thing.”

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Documenting O’Keefe’s family and close friends proved critical, Lu said.

“They had probably a decision to make of whether to cooperate with this,” he said, “and they probably made the right decision in cooperating with it because they provided a lot of balance.”

Boston defense attorney William D. Kickham agrees with Lu that the 20/20 episode and other national publicity will have a minor impact on jury selection for the retrial scheduled to begin Jan. 25, 2025.

“The jury pool is going to be drawn from the same county, from the same geographic representation of the community,” Kickham told the Herald Saturday afternoon. “Let’s face it: This case has been saturated among the public for months so I don’t think it will have that great of an impact on the jury pool.”

Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe (Courtesy/BPD)