Karen Read trial live updates: Can crash reconstruction expert help the defense?
The second murder trial of Karen Read resumed Friday with testimony from a defense accident reconstruction witness, after the trial took a one-day pause due to sweltering heat in the Massachusetts court room.
Daniel Michael Wolfe, an accident reconstruction expert, began testifying about his analysis of whether Read could have killed her Boston police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe with her car.
Read's defense team has sought to prove that she was framed for the death of O'Keefe, who was found underneath the snow outside the home of another cop in January 2022 after the couple went out drinking one night with friends.
Prosecutors say Read backed into O'Keefe with her Lexus SUV in a drunken rage after dropping him off at the home for a house party and then left him to die outside during a historic blizzard. She has been charged with second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death.
Discover WITNESS: Access our exclusive collection of true crime stories, podcasts, videos and more
More: Karen Read trial: Prosecution rests its case after 6 weeks. What's next in the case?
Earlier in the week, jurors heard from a woman who went to the bar with Read and O'Keefe the night before his body was found and a Canton, Massachusetts, snow plow driver who said he did not see O'Keefe's body in the yard of now-retired Boston Police Officer Brian Albert as he passed by the morning of Jan. 29, 2022.
This is her second trial, after her first ended last year in a hung jury.
Jury instructions filed by Read's lawyers suggest that the Massachusetts woman may not testify in the retrial. They include a section informing the jury of Read's Fifth Amendment right not to testify, telling them they 'may not hold that against her.'
Christopher Dearborn, a law professor at Suffolk University in Boston who has followed the case closely, said the instructions are likely a 'harbinger' that Read's attorneys are not going to call her to the stand, though he noted that they could change their mind.
'Frankly, I don't think it would make a lot of sense to call her at this point,' Dearborn said, noting the number of public statements Read has made that could be used against her.
The court has already heard from Read in the trial through clips prosecutors played of interviews conducted in which she questioned whether she 'clipped' O'Keefe and admitted to driving while inebriated.
Dearborn told USA TODAY that there are two schools of thought around whether to include a section on a defendant's right not to testify in jury instructions. Some defense lawyers don't include the section because they don't want to "draw a bull's eye" around the fact that the defendant didn't testify and cause jurors to "speculate," Dearborn said.
Other times, he said, its the "elephant in the room" and the specific instructions telling the jury they can't hold the defendant's lack of testimony against them are necessary.
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: Christopher Cann, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Karen Read trial updates: Defense turns to crash reconstruction expert
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
1 dead, 3 hospitalized in head-on car crash in Napa
(KRON) – A head-on car crash killed one man and left three people hospitalized, according to the California Highway Patrol in Napa. Around 4:38 p.m. on Friday, CHP was alerted to a two-vehicle collision involving a 2024 Toyota Venza and a 2011 Lexus RX450 on California Highway 121, north of CA Highway 37 near the Sonoma Raceway. According to CHP, multiple witnesses observed a solo male driver of the Toyota traveling southbound on Highway 121, and a female driver of the Lexus with two minor passengers driving northbound. The Toyota crossed over the double-yellow lines and crashed into the Lexus in a head-on collision, CHP said. Driver in stolen car crashes into 4 vehicles evading CHP, gun recovered The Toyota caught fire after the collision. The driver of the Toyota was a man who was pronounced dead at a Napa hospital at 5:36 p.m. on Friday. The driver of the Lexus was a mother with her two children, a 15-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter. According to CHP, only one child was wearing a seatbelt. The mother was transported to a Napa hospital for major injuries. The children were transported by helicopters to the Oakland Children's Hospital for major injuries. CHP said it is unclear if drugs or alcohol were involved in this collision. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Chicago crime: Thief broke into several cars in South Loop parking garages, CPD says
The Brief Several cars in South Loop parking garages were broken into between Friday night and early Saturday morning. Police provided a rough description of the suspected thief. CHICAGO - Several cars parked in South Loop parking garages were broken into between late Friday night and early Saturday morning. The break-ins took place in parking structures along the 600 block of South La Salle Street, the 800 block of South Wells Street, and the 100 block of West 9th Street, according to the Chicago Police Department. What we know In each incident, the offender broke the passenger or driver side windows and, in several cases, took personal property from inside the cars. The offender was also reported to have been seen fleeing in a gray Lexus sedan with an Ontario, Canada, license plate, police said. The offender was described by police as an African American male wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, gray sweatpants, and a black/gray Nike Jordan gym shoes. Police listed each incident's date and approximate location: 600 block of S. La Salle St on June 6 at 11:19 p.m. 600 block of S. La Salle St on June 6 at 11:19 p.m. 600 block of S. La Salle St on June 6 at 11:19 p.m. 600 block of S. La Salle St on June 6 at 11:19 p.m. 600 block of S. La Salle St on June 6 at 11:19 p.m. 600 block of S. La Salle St on June 6 at 11:19 p.m. 600 block of S. La Salle St on June 6 at 11:19 p.m. 800 block of S. Wells St on June 7 at 2:20 a.m. 800 block of S. Wells St on June 7 at 2:20 a.m. 800 block of S. Wells St on June 7 at 2:20 a.m. 100 block of W. 9th St on June 7 at 2:20 a.m. 800 block of S. Wells St on June 7 at 2:20 a.m. 800 block of S. Wells St on June 7 at 2:20 a.m. What you can do Anyone with information on the break-ins is asked to contact Area Three Detectives at 312-744-8263 or submit an anonymous tip at
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
Why wasn't an Amber Alert sent for the 3 sisters found dead in Washington?
The deaths of three girls in Washington state whose mother reported them missing after their father didn't return them from a custodial visit, has prompted cries for reform because an Amber Alert was never sent for the sisters. The bodies of Paityn Decker, 9; Evelyn Decker, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5, were discovered on June 2 – just days after they were reported missing by their mother, Whitney Decker. The three girls did not return home from a planned visitation with their father, Travis Decker, a former military member who is homeless and was living out of a pickup. Authorities found the girls' bodies about 75 to 100 yards away from their father's unoccupied vehicle near the Rock Island Campground in Chelan County, about 148 miles east of Seattle. The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Marshals, and U.S. Border Patrol have joined the search for Travis Decker, whose whereabouts remain unknown. Now, Whitney Decker is calling for changes to Washington state's Amber Alert system and improvements in mental health care for veterans as the search for the man stretched into its sixth day on June 6, according to reports. Washington State Patrol was originally contacted on May 30 to request an Amber Alert, but the situation "did not meet the required criteria" at the time, Wenatchee police said. The agency instead issued a statewide Endangered Missing Person Alert (EMPA) for the girls on May 31. As authorities intensify the search for Travis Decker, 32, a family attorney told local media outlets that Whitney Decker believes her daughters might still be alive had an Amber Alert been issued in the hours after they were reported missing. "She really feels that the system let her children down," Attorney Arianna Cozart said in an interview with KING 5. "It was the inadequacies in the services for our veterans that killed those children." Court filings revealed that Travis Decker had exhibited mental health issues prior to the girls' deaths. Cozart told The Seattle Times that Travis Decker had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder after leaving active service. "They did not see him as an immediate physical danger to his children, despite the fact that he had a well established history of mental health issues," Cozart added. "And had they had seen it that way, those children might still be alive. And that's the thing that is so brutal, and the one thing she's really hoping can be changed in this tragedy." Cozart did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment on June 5. 'One too many': Death of 3 girls in Travis Decker's custody is a familiar tragedy Chris Loftis, spokesperson for the Washington State Patrol, reiterated to USA TODAY that the request for an Amber Alert did not meet the system's guidelines, which are set by the U.S. Department of Justice. He said that, similar to other states, Washington's system has "specific criteria" to ensure that features of the program are only used in instances where the standards have been met. According to Loftis, the criteria include: "The person(s) must be 17 or younger." "The incident must be investigated by a law enforcement agency, and the subject must be entered into the National Crime Information Center." "There must be enough descriptive information that activating the alert will assist in the recovery." "There must be reason to believe the person has been abducted." "The missing person(s) must be known to be in danger of imminent serious bodily injury or death." While the first three criteria were met, Loftis said Travis Decker had limited custodial rights, and there was not immediate legal presumption that the girls were abducted when the Amber Alert requests were submitted on May 30 and May 31. He added that law enforcement does not "automatically have clear indication that the children are in danger" in situations where a custodial parent is late returning children to another parent. Loftis noted that discussions with local law enforcement did not mention danger as a concern. Citing notes from the intake specialist for Washington State Patrol's Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit, Loftis said initial and follow-up reports from local police stated there was no threat of great bodily harm or death to the children at the time. The notes also showed that Travis Decker had previously "never diverted from the parenting plan in the past" and "no alarming mental health status" had been mentioned in the reports, other than "he may be 'going through a lot' after leaving the military and weathering housing and employment issues." Though the case did not meet the Amber Alert threshold, Loftis said there was "ample concern" and State Patrol had enough information to issue the EMPA. Unlike an Amber Alert, the EMPA does not send a push notification or text message to all cell phones in the targeted area about missing children. According to Loftis, issuing an EMPA allows law enforcement to post electronic fliers, send text messages and emails to listservs of people who have requested notification on all alerts, post vehicle information on highway reader boards, and promote coverage by state broadcasters. "The State of Washington handled this incident no differently than any other state with the information they had available. But all of that said, nothing, no process, and no set of standards can protect us from all evils and horrors," Loftis said in a statement to USA TODAY. "We learn from every tragedy, and I'm sure we will review and learn from this set of tragedies, but the depth of this sorrow is beyond a learning opportunity right now, it is a tragedy first and forever." Community mourns amid manhunt: Who were Olivia, Evelyn and Paityn Decker? The three girls were found dead by apparent suffocation in a remote campground, according to the Wenatchee Police Department. Whitney Decker had reported the children missing on May 30 after they left their central Washington home to visit their father. On June 2, a Chelan County deputy found an unoccupied truck at about 3:45 p.m. local time near the Rock Island Campground. Officers found the bodies of the missing girls soon after, down a small embankment, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by USA TODAY. While Travis Decker was nowhere to be found, investigators traced his cell phone, which revealed that he visited the same campground the day before the kidnapping, the court documents show. Travis Decker is wanted on charges of kidnapping, first-degree murder, and custodial interference in connection with the deaths, according to the Wenatchee Police Department. In an update on June 4, Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said Travis Decker may have scoped out a hiding location before going off the grid using his extensive military and outdoor survival training. Contributing: Natalie Neysa Alund, Anthony Robledo, and Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Death of 3 Decker sisters: Why wasn't Amber Alert issued?
