Severity of damage to Karen Read's taillight comes into question during testimony of Dighton officer
Fireworks on the stand during the retrial of Karen Read after a Dighton Police officer testified Read's taillight wasn't damaged that bad before it was seized by Massachusetts State Police troopers.
Dighton Police Sergeant Nicholas Barros said Read's taillight had damage, but not to the extent of what pictures presented in court showed.
'That was the black Lexus,' he said. 'That was not the taillight the day I was there.'
Barros described seeing a hole about the size of a dollar bill before State Troopers seized the Lexus from Read's parents Dighton home.
'Did you see anybody from the State Police in any way tamper with that vehicle?' Special Prosecutor Hank Brennan asked on cross.
'I did not,' Barros replied.
Barros appeared confident with his memory until Brennan began peppering him with questions.
'Would be fair to say, based on all the additional information you've read and seen, had some effect on your memory?' Brennan questioned.
'I guess,' Barros said.
'His testimony hasn't changed,' Karen Read said outside court. 'He was subpoenaed by the prosecution and said it was damaged and not completely broken a year ago and then he said that again today.'
More fireworks during the testimony of the defense's dog bite expert Dr. Marie Russel, when Read's lawyer Robert Alessi demanded a mistrial over the prosecutor's questioning.
Alessi argued that Brennan brought up the absence of dog DNA on O'Keefe's clothing when it wasn't in evidence.
Brennan pushed back.
'It might be hurtful for the defendant's theories, for the creation they portrayed, for this jury yesterday,' he said. 'But it is not improper.'
Judge Beverly Cannone sided with Brennan and rejected the mistrial request.
Russell was asked about statements Read has made about a possible collision with O'Keefe.
Russell said people suffer something called 'acute grief reaction,' where they blame themselves when bad things happen.
Outside of court, Read was asked if she will take the stand.
She said she has mixed feelings and did not give a 'yes' or 'no' response.
A plow driver is expected to testify on Wednesday.
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Brennan continued to press Russell on whether she knew the sweatshirt had been tested for traces of dog DNA. Read's defense attorney, Robert Alessi, forcefully objected to the question, causing the judge to dismiss the jury to hear from the defense and prosecution about whether the question warranted a mistrial. The defense argued Brennan's question introduced the idea of DNA evidence into the trial for the first time, and said the defense had been meticulous about not mentioning DNA. Brennan pushed back, stating the defense team brought up the concept of dog DNA during a December 2024 hearing. Cannone ruled to allow the prosecution to continue its line of DNA-related questions. Brennan proceeded to questioned Russell about the lack of dog DNA found on O'Keefe's sweatshirt and suggested dogs typically froth at the mouth, leave 'excessive saliva' and can sometimes shed hair when they bite. Brennan said O'Keefe's sweatshirt tested positive for pig DNA but not dog DNA and there was 'no identification' of where the pig DNA came from. Russell said the sweatshirt 'ideally' should have been swabbed for DNA immediately after the body was found. O'Keefe's sweatshirt wasn't tested for months, and she questioned whether the delay had an impact. Brennan suggested the sweatshirt was not immediately tested because there was no evidence when O'Keefe's body was discovered that a dog caused the wounds. Russell said it should have been considered as part of a 'complete investigation.' Brennan attempted to poke holes in the methodology Russell used to determine whether O'Keefe's wounds came from a dog attack. He questioned whether she could differentiate wounds from the dog's teeth and nails, and she said it was difficult to tell because they cause similar abrasions. Russell also said there is no accepted methodology for identifying dog bites and clarified that she used a mixture of pattern recognition and differential diagnosis in her analysis. Brennan pointed out that the diameter between the marks on O'Keefe differed. He questioned how that could happen, since the diameter between teeth and nails is stagnant. Russell responded that the skin's elasticity leads to slight differences. She said she couldn't 'imagine' a vehicle lining up to fit O'Keefe's injuries. When questioned about whether she had examined Read's vehicle specifically, Russell said she hadn't. The prosecution attempted to sow doubt about Russell's credibility as a witness asking whether Russell received help on her report from Read's defense team. In December 2024, Russell testified defense attorney Robert Alessi helped with the report, according to a transcript presented by the prosecutor. Russell clarified that Alessi helped reorganize the report but did not change any content. When asked about her communications with Alessi, Russell said she commuted to court with the attorney the morning of June 3. During their ride, she said he recommended that she ask for a transcript of her testimony. Russell said they did not have any other conversations about the case. The prosecutor suggested that the communication constituted a breach of the witness sequestration rule in the trial, which prohibits the witness from discussing their testimony with anyone until the trial is over. Russell returned to the stand Tuesday for a second day. She previously testified that wounds found on O'Keefe's arm appeared to have been inflicted by a dog, noting patterns she said were consistent with the hundreds of other canine attacks she's seen in her career. Pointing to a picture of O'Keefe's battered arm, Russell described what she said were multiple groupings of incomplete dog bites, which are among the most common. The bites, she said, didn't penetrate the 'full thickness of the skin.' She also contested previous testimony from Judson Welcher, the prosecution's crash reconstruction expert who presented a case study from a car crash where a victim sustained several injuries, including skin loss. Russell suggested O'Keefe did not have the same types of injuries. The prosecution began pressing Russell about her experience and alleged inconsistencies in her statements upon cross-examination. They asked if she had ever identified the origin of a wound as a dog bite without knowing where it came from prior to Read's case. She said she hadn't. CourtTV has been covering the case against Read and the criminal investigation since early 2022, when O'Keefe's body was found outside a Massachusetts home. You can watch CourtTV's live feed of the Read trial proceedings from Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts. Proceedings began at 9 a.m. ET. Contributing: Michael Loria, USA TODAY This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Karen Read trial day 26: Judge denies defense's motion for mistrial
