
Judge hears arguments over whether to admit presentation into evidence in Karen Read trial. Follow live updates.
With jury gone, lawyers return to court in Read case — 9:25 a.m.
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By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Both sides in Karen Read's murder retrial will appear in court Thursday for a hearing before they deliver closing arguments to jurors on Friday.
The hearing is known as a charge conference, where the parties hash out instructions the jury will receive before they start deliberating. Jurors won't be present for Thursday's proceedings.
The parties are also awaiting a ruling from Judge Beverly J. Cannone on whether the jury can view a PowerPoint presentation from ARCCA, a Philadelphia-based crash reconstruction firm whose experts found the damage to Read's SUV and the injuries to the victim, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, weren't consistent with O'Keefe being struck by the vehicle, a finding at odds with government experts who also testified.
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Read, 45, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and other counts for allegedly backing her Lexus in a drunken rage into O'Keefe, her boyfriend, early on Jan. 29, 2022, after dropping him off outside a Fairview Road home in Canton following a night of bar-hopping.
Her lawyers say she was framed and that O'Keefe entered the property, owned at the time by a fellow Boston police officer, where he was fatally beaten and possibly mauled by a German Shepherd before his body was planted on the front lawn.
Read's first trial ended in a hung jury and she remains free on bail.

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Write to us at . To subscribe, . TODAY'S STARTING POINT When prosecutors wrapped up the first trial of Karen Read last year, they declared that 'all of the testimony' indicated she had caused the death of her boyfriend, John O'Keefe, during a blizzard in Canton in 2022. That closing argument, for at least some jurors, wasn't convincing; after the jury deadlocked and failed to reach a verdict, the judge declared a mistrial. Now, as Read's second trial 'It's equal parts art and science,' said Chris Dearborn, a professor at Suffolk Law School. 'It's about persuasion, trying to tell a better story than the other side. And some of those basic principles of persuasion are really fundamentally no different, whether it's a barroom argument, a closing argument, or a toast or speech.' Advertisement Several attorneys and legal professionals who spoke to the Globe were unanimous: one of the worst things that attorneys can do in their closing arguments is appear underhanded or insincere. 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Original article source: Anti-ICE riot funding investigated after 'numerous high budget requests' for paid agitators were reported