A fierce pre-trial battle in the case is raging over a video of the incident, which the Andover Police Department paid a law-oriented media production and technology company to edit. Other pre-trial issues include the discovery that while the woman was in the lobby of the police station, Police Chief Patrick Keefe ordered one of his detectives to wire the lobby with a rare portable video camera with audio recording fixtures, in addition to the image-only surveillance camera equipment already installed in the building. According to Aufiero, the portable camera is typically used within the Detective Unit in the conduct of criminal investigations. Affidavits filed with the court, also revealed that Andover Police Detective Kevin Aufiero from the Detective Unit was brought in to operate the mobile camera, and the camera was moved around the lobby suspiciously at various time to record the woman’s conversations with Keefe and Cooper, an act that would have violated the woman’s right to privacy under the Massachusetts wiretap law forbidding the interception and capture of oral communications without the knowledge of all parties to the communications.

On Wednesday February 20, the Court issued a ruling denying Keefe and Cooper’s Motion for Summary Judgement. The case is scheduled to go on trial on March 4, 2019, barring a settlement between the parties.