Karen Read trial shifts focus to physical evidence after contentious tech testimony
incoming update…
Karen Read's defense
revved up its attacks on unexpected new expert findings Tuesday, which contradict the timeline they say proves she didn't hit boyfriend John O'Keefe with her Lexus SUV and leave him to die in a blizzard in 2022.
Shanon Burgess, an expert on vehicle and phone data from the digital forensics firm Aperture, returned to the stand for a second day of brutal cross-examination with defense attorney Robert Alessi at the wheel.
Alessi pointed out inconsistencies in Burgess' resume and revealed he got the dates wrong on a timeline that was supposed to be accurate "to the second." And nothing in Burgess' findings directly indicated that a fatal crash happened.
"As you sit here today, none of the information in that black box that you referred to on direct testimony indicates that there was a collision on Jan. 29," Alessi said. "Does it?"
"Not by itself," Burgess replied.
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan pumped the brakes when he returned for redirect questioning, asking the expert about flaws he had found in a previous analysis that indicated O'Keefe, a Boston police officer, was interacting with his iPhone after the time when prosecutors allege he was fatally struck by the defendant.
The math veered out of alignment, Burgess testified. A defense expert had relied on call logs to synchronize the internal clocks in Read's Lexus SUV and O'Keefe's iPhone.
But that doesn't work, Burgess explained, because the expert used calls that Read made when her car was powered off, so the vehicle's internal clock had nothing to do with them. Their timing was the product of the internal clock on her smartphone, which he said synced up with the Lexus the next time she turned it on.
Read the full story here.
Karen Read arrived alongside her defense team at the Norfolk Superior Courthouse for Day 20 of her murder trial.
The prosecution is expected to call Massachusetts State Police forensic scientist Christina Hanley to the witness stand for continued testimony regarding crime scene evidence in Read's trial.
Karen Read's trial is resuming Wednesday with continued testimony from Massachusetts State Police forensic scientist Christina Hanley as the prosecution aims to further solidify its timeline.
Read is facing the possibility of life in prison for the alleged murder of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe.
The Commonwealth, led by special prosecutor
Hank Brennan, alleges Read struck O'Keefe with her Lexus SUV in a drunken rage, leaving him to freeze to death in the front yard of 34 Fairview Road in the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2022. Read's defense team claims Read dropped O'Keefe off at a party that night and drove off, insisting she never hit O'Keefe with her vehicle.
Live Coverage begins here
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
29 minutes ago
- New York Times
‘Love Island' Contestant Leaves Show After Racist Comments Surface
'Love Island USA,' the reality dating show that sends singles to an island villa to pair up in hopes of winning a cash prize, is known and often appreciated for its messy plots onscreen. But this week, as Season 7 of the show premiered, most of the chaos took place offscreen. Some offscreen drama also reached the show's predecessor, 'Love Island UK.' Contestant Dismissed for Racial Slurs For starters, one of the contestants, Yulissa Escobar, was summarily dropped from the show after video recordings of her repeatedly using a racial slur in a podcast interview were dug up by online sleuths and then reported by TMZ. The clips created an uproar among fans online before the premiere on Tuesday, but the series is aired with a one- or two-day delay, and Escobar, a 27-year-old Cuban American from Miami, still appeared in the first episode. Before the premiere, fans were vowing on X and TikTok to vote Escobar off the show as soon as they had the opportunity. On the first night of the show, Escobar was also criticized by some viewers for wearing an outfit that they deemed appropriative of Chinese culture and using chopsticks to pin up her hair. At about the 18-minute mark of the second episode, which was shown on Wednesday, the narrator, Iain Stirling, abruptly announced that 'Yulissa has left the villa.' She had been paired with Ace Greene, and later in the episode Stirling noted that Greene was single. Escobar could not immediately be reached for comment. Ryan McCormick, a spokesman for Peacock, which streams the show, declined to comment on why the producers had removed her. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBS News
29 minutes ago
- CBS News
Jury convicts Wisconsin inmate accused of killing cellmate for being Black and gay
A Wisconsin man doing time for trying to kill his mother was convicted Wednesday of strangling his cellmate to death. A jury found Jackson Vogel, 25, guilty of first-degree intentional homicide in connection with the death of 19-year-old Micah Laureano at the Green Bay Correctional Institution last year, WLUK-TV reported. Vogel told investigators he killed Laureano because Laureano was Black and gay. Vogel's attorneys, public defenders Ann Larson and Luke Harrison, didn't immediately return voicemail messages seeking comment. He faces a mandatory life sentence when he is sentenced on June 27. He is already serving a 20-year prison term handed down in 2018 for repeatedly stabbing his mother, strangling her and attempting to snap her neck, according to an appellate opinion upholding that conviction. A guard found Laureano's body hanging from the top bunk of the cell he shared with Vogel on Aug. 27, according to a criminal complaint. Laureano's hands and feet were tied together with orange material. Vogel, who is white, told the guard that he killed Laureano because Laureano was Black and gay, the complaint said. He said he knocked Laureano out, tied his hands and feet and strangled him. Investigators discovered numerous cut strips of orange cloth around the cell as well as a handwritten note that said, "Kill all humans!" followed by profanities directed at Black people and gay people, according to the complaint. Laureano was serving a three-year sentence in battery and robbery cases. His mother, Phyllis Laureano, filed a federal lawsuit in February accusing prison officials of failing to protect him from Vogel. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. Green Bay Correctional Institution, a maximum security facility, opened in 1898. Republicans have been calling for years to close the prison along with the Waupun Correctional Institution, another maximum security facility where seven inmates have died since 2023. But concerns over job losses and the cost of building a new prison have stymied any progress on either front.
Fox News
29 minutes ago
- Fox News
Controversial airport watchlist program terminated by DHS amid weaponization concerns
EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security is ending the Quiet Skies program, which left some Americans subject to additional screenings at airport security. The department says the agency was overly politicized to either benefit or hurt specific people and ran a bill of roughly $200 million annually. According to DHS, the program kept a watchlist as well as a list of people exempted. The department says Quiet Skies has not prevented any terrorist attacks but will continue to use other methods to assure safe air travel. "It is clear that the Quiet Skies program was used as a political rolodex of the Biden Administration—weaponized against its political foes and exploited to benefit their well-heeled friends. I am calling for a Congressional investigation to unearth further corruption at the expense of the American people and the undermining of US national security," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. DHS says that the list of exemptions of people who avoid "security policies" included "foreign royal families, political elites, professional athletes, and favored journalists." The program that started in 2010 was seen as a terror prevention method, and it faced escalating scrutiny from the left and right, including groups like the American Civil Liberties Union. "TSA's critical aviation and security vetting functions will be maintained, and the Trump Administration will return TSA to its true mission of being laser-focused on the safety and security of traveling public. This includes restoring the integrity, privacy, and equal application of the law for all Americans," Noem continued. In 2018, the ACLU asked the Transportation Security Administration for more information about the program. "The TSA is engaging in covert surveillance of travelers and raising a host of disturbing questions in the process. While the program's existence is now public, the TSA has kept nearly everything else about the program secret," Hugh Handeyside, senior staff attorney with the ACLU's National Security Project, said in a 2018 news release. "Travelers deserve to know how this surveillance is being implemented, what its consequences are for Americans, and for how long the TSA is retaining the information it gathers. What we've seen so far is troubling, which is why we're demanding that the TSA hand over records it's been hiding from the public. This is a much needed step towards transparency and accountability for an agency with a track record of using unreliable and unscientific techniques, such as 'behavior detection,' to screen and monitor travelers who have done nothing wrong," he added. DHS pointed out a specific situation in which William Shaheen, the husband of New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, was removed from the list after reaching out to the former head of TSA during the Biden administration in 2023, according to CBS News. DHS said that he "traveled with a known or suspected terrorist" three times. The senator's office confirmed to CBS News she had reached out to TSA after her husband dealt with intense security obstacles while flying, but was unaware of any specific lists her husband was or was not on. The outlet reported that he was flying with an attorney was subject of the terrorism flag. The department also cited Tulsi Gabbard's past placement on the Silent Partner Quiet Skies list. Fox News Digital reached out to Shaheen's office for comment.
