Karen Read is asking for the civil case against her to be held off until after her criminal trial finishes, according to court records.

“A stay is appropriate here, where proceeding with this civil action at the same time as the criminal action will adversely affect Ms. Read’s Fifth Amendment rights and her ability to vigorously defend herself from criminal prosecution,” attorney William Keville Jr. wrote in the motion filed Wednesday in Plymouth Superior Court’s Brockton division and publicly available late Thursday afternoon.

Read, 44, of Mansfield, faces charges including second-degree murder in the death of John O’Keefe, her boyfriend and a Boston Police officer at the time of his death. Prosecutors say she struck him with her SUV after heavy drinking and yet another argument in their troubled relationship and left him to freeze and die on a Canton front yard.

A trial in Norfolk Superior Court earlier this year ended in a mistrial. The O’Keefe family, represented by John O’Keefe’s only remaining sibling, Paul O’Keefe, filed the civil lawsuit in August and requested a jury trial.

A memo supporting Read’s motion highlighted that any action on the civil matter ahead of the criminal trial could be a “potential burden” and cause “prejudicial effects” to Read’s criminal trial, while having no such affects for the plaintiffs other than “the inconvenience of a brief time delay.”

Keville also said that not delaying the civil case could “place an unfair burden on both the witnesses and the parties in both the civil and criminal litigation.” As “the decedent, witnesses, and evidence are the same in both cases,” the same witnesses “could conceivably be subjected to testifying on the witness stand while simultaneously being called for deposition in civil discovery.”

The O’Keefe family filed a response opposing the motion. While, attorney Marc Diller wrote, he agrees with some of the arguments in general, they don’t work here because “Ms. Read consistently and voluntarily disregards her Fifth Amendment privilege as she attempts to craft her own narrative and poison the jury pool in both the criminal and civil cases.”

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“By openly discussing the case in various media outlets, Read demonstrates a clear intention to influence public perception,” Diller concludes his opposition memo. “This selective invocation of her rights undermines the very protections she seeks and raises serious questions about her motives.

“Under the circumstances, it is reasonable to proceed with civil discovery, allowing both parties to pursue their interests while ensuring the judicial process remains fair and balanced,” Diller wrote.