Prosecution costs in the Karen Read trials cost taxpayers about $1.5 million and ended with only a conviction for drunken driving.

That figure comes from the second installment of Norfolk County District Attorney records obtained by the Herald by a records request.

The Herald previously reported that special prosecutor Hank Brennan, who led the prosecution in Read’s second trial earlier this year, was paid a total of $566,000 for his work.

But now we see that there were also some huge costs toward witness payments and expenses — and a boatload of professional transcripts of everything from hearings to defendant Read’s numerous media interviews and appearances. Total expenses across both trials approach $900,000, according to court records.

The biggest cost of all was the work of forens

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