Watch Live: Karen Read's defense attorneys begin their case at trial
The Karen Read trial is now in the hands of the defense, which is set to call its first witness today. The prosecution rested its case in the high-profile Massachusetts murder trial on Thursday after weeks of testimony from 38 witnesses.
Testimony in Dedham's Norfolk Superior Court is expected to start at about 9:30 a.m. after Judge Beverly Cannone meets with the attorneys. You can stream the trial live on CBS News Boston or in the video player above.
Read is accused of hitting her Boston police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow in Canton in January 2022. She has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of personal injury and death. Her first trial in 2024 ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury.
Karen Read's defense
Read said outside court on Thursday that the defense expects its case to last one-and-a-half to two weeks. Last year, the defense called all of its witnesses over the course of just two days.
It remains to be seen whether the defense will call key witnesses from the last trial who were not called by the prosecution this time around, including former 34 Fairview Road homeowner Brian Albert, federal agent Brian Higgins or fired Massachusetts State Police trooper Michael Proctor.
Read said Matthew DiSorga, a digital forensics expert who specializes in car data, will be the first witness that her side calls to the stand.
A WBZ-TV legal analyst expects that Read's attorney Alan Jackson will handle the majority of the defense's case.
Prosecution rests in Karen Read case
The final witness for the prosecution was crash reconstructionist Judson Welcher, a biomechanical engineer for Aperture LLC who was subject to intense cross-examination by the defense. Welcher's testimony included videos that showed him dressing up like O'Keefe on the night he died and performing tests with an SUV similar to Read's Lexus.
Before resting, special prosecutor Hank Brennan played a documentary interview clip for the jury. In the video, Read remembers a conversation she had with defense attorney David Yannetti shortly after O'Keefe's death.
"Did he come and hit the back of my car, and I hit him in the knee and he's drunk and passed out and asphyxiated or something?" Read said in the clip. "You know, what if I ran his foot over, or what if I clipped him in the knee and he passed out or went to care for himself and threw up or passed out?"
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
Plow driver testifies he saw no body in snow during crucial hours in Karen Read murder trial
Karen Read's defense team is looking to build on momentum yesterday from a surprise police witness who testified that her taillight was less damaged when he helped seize it with a warrant than it appears in photos taken after it arrived at the Canton Police Department, where authorities first towed it. Read's defense called Brian "Lucky" Loughran, a Department of Public Works employee, to the witness stand Wednesday morning. He testified that he passed by 34 Fairview Road, the home of Brian Albert, where John O'Keefe was found dead in the snow, multiple times between 2:40 a.m. and around 6 a.m. Prosecutors allege Read hit her boyfriend outside and drove off, leaving him to die amid blizzard conditions. Loughran said he had good visibility despite the blizzard conditions due to multiple lights on the plow truck and a high seat. Asked if he saw a body in the snow, he said no -- but he added that he did see a Ford Edge SUV parked outside the address on a later pass around 3:30 a.m. Karen Read's Silence In Murder Trial Raises Stakes For Defense He said it stood out to him because he was from the area and knew the Albert family -- and he had to maneuver around the vehicle as he cleared the road. Read On The Fox News App "For as long as I can remember, they have never parked a vehicle in front of their house," Loughran testified. "They've always had enough ample parking in the driveway." Special prosecutor Hank Brennan asked Loughran during cross-examination about purported threats from an online blogger and inconsistencies in his timeline. Karen Read Judge Blocks Sandra Birchmore Mentions; Expert Says Cases Should Be Wake-up Call For Police Loughran said he never felt threatened by the blogger and denied having a bad memory when Brennan confronted him with multiple statements that offered different times for when the river passed by Fairview Road. Then Brennan played police dashcam video taken outside 34 Fairview that showed the heavy snowfall and the distance between the house there and Cedarcrest Road, where a plow truck drove by multiple times in the background. Loughran agreed that some of the passes were him in the plow, dubbed "Frankentruck," but said he couldn't be sure at other moments. Follow The Fox True Crime Team On X The taillight fragments were not found at the crime scene until later, too, and her defense's implication is that they could have been planted there. Wednesday marks the 27th day of Read's retrial on murder and other charges in the January 2022 death of O'Keefe, her then-boyfriend, a Boston police officer, and an uncle who had taken in the orphaned children of his late sister and brother-in-law. She denies hitting him with her 2021 Lexus SUV and leaving the scene, where he died with head trauma and signs of hypothermia. The defense says no collision happened and something or someone else caused his injuries. On Tuesday, Dighton Police Sgt. Nicholas Barros testified that when he arrived at Read's parents' house to help state police confiscate the vehicle, fewer pieces of taillight were missing from the cracked taillight. He said that a photo of Read's SUV taken at the Canton Police Department's sallyport – a secure garage – did "absolutely not" show the taillight in the same condition it was in when he saw it in the driveway. Barros surprised the courtroom when he testified for the commonwealth during Read's first trial, which ended with a deadlocked jury last year. This time, he was a defense witness. Karen Read's Suv Reached '74% Throttle' Moments Before John O'keefe's Final Movements, Crash Expert Testifies "He was a devastating witness who has the [district attorney's] case on life support," said Mark Bederow, a New York City-based defense attorney who is closely following the case. He said special prosecutor Hank Brennan conducted an "excellent" cross-examination, showing Barros and the jury images of Read's taillight taken over the course of the day, before police took her SUV, but defense attorney Alan Jackson performed equally well in redirect questioning. Sign Up To Get The True Crime Newsletter "The sum total is that Barros is 100% unequivocal: the taillight he saw on January 29 was not anywhere near as destroyed as when the [Massachusetts State Police] had it," he said. GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE True Crime Hub Grace Edwards, a Massachusetts defense attorney who is also following the case, called Barros' testimony a "bombshell" and said the surprise in trial 1 was "a clear Brady violation" – referring to a rule that prosecutors must share exculpatory evidence with the defense. "The fact that a police officer drove to the Omni Hotel to meet with the defense team of a defendant on trial for murder clearly indicates he wanted to tell his story," she told Fox News Digital. Dr. Judson Welcher, an expert for the prosecution, explained to jurors how he found that O'Keefe appeared to have been struck in the arm by the back corner of Read's SUV before he fell to the ground and fractured the back of his skull. Christina Hanley, an analyst with the state police's crime lab, testified that investigators recovered plastic fragments from O'Keefe's clothing that were a match with the broken taillight or something made of the same material. Read could face life in prison if convicted of the top charge, second-degree article source: Plow driver testifies he saw no body in snow during crucial hours in Karen Read murder trial
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Live court video, updates: Day 27 of testimony in Karen Read's murder retrial
Wednesday marks Day 27 of testimony in Karen Read's murder retrial, and the defense is expected to call two new witnesses to the stand. Watch Live: Testimony in Karen Read's retrial resumes at 9 a.m. Read, 45, of Mansfield, is accused of striking O'Keefe, her Boston police officer boyfriend, with her Lexus SUV and leaving him to die alone in a blizzard outside of a house party in Canton at the home of fellow officer Brian Albert on Jan. 29, 2022, following a night of drinking. Canton snowplow driver Brian 'Lucky' Loughranon and a Canton resident who was friends with O'Keefe are expected to take the stand on what's scheduled to be a half day of witness testimony. Loughran works for the town of Canton and was plowing overnight when O'Keefe was found dead. In Read's first trial, Loughran testified that his route took him by Albert's home at 34 Fairview Road and that there was no body on the lawn when he drove by. The prosecution alleges Read struck O'Keefe around 12:45 a.m. and that O'Keefe's body was on the lawn until about 6 a.m. that morning. Loughran previously said he drove by the home at 2:45 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., noticing nothing suspicious. In court on Tuesday, jurors heard from two witnesses: A dog bite expert and a Dighton police sergeant. Dr. Marie Russell, a retired emergency medicine physician, said the wounds on O'Keefe's arms were the result of a dog attack. Retrial of Karen Read gets heated as ex-Canton police officer testifies, along with dog bite expert 'These multiple groupings are patterns and they are, in my opinion, by the teeth and claws of a dog,' Russell said, pointing to a photo of O'Keefe's arm. She described the wounds as linear and going in a similar direction. The prosecution had earlier sought to block Russell from testifying, questioning her credibility. Upon leaving Dedham's Norfolk Superior Court at the end of the day, Read briefly addressed reporters and said she thought Russell was 'fantastic' on the stand. Dighton Police Sgt. Nicholas Barros was at the Dighton home where William and Janet Read live when their daughter's SUV was towed to the Canton Police Department's sally port. He said Read's taillight had some damage, but not as bad as what investigators photographed in the sally port. Read attorney Alan Jackson showed Barros an image of the Lexus taillight from the Canton Police Department and asked what was different from when he saw it at Read's parents' house. Severity of damage to Karen Read's taillight comes into question during testimony of Dighton officer 'Is this the condition of the right rear taillight when you showed up at the Read household?' Jackson asked. 'Absolutely not,' Barros responded. Jackson continued, 'What's different about this photo, sir? ' Barros said, 'That taillight is completely smashed out.' Barros described seeing a hole about the size of a $1 bill before state troopers seized the Lexus SUV. He appeared confident with his memory, but also agreed with special prosecutor Hank Brennan that additional information he's read and seen has had some effect on his recollection Outside of court, Read said of Barros, 'His testimony hasn't changed. 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.' Also on Tuesday, Read's lawyers demanded that Judge Cannone declare a mistrial after the prosecution brought up the topic of DNA while cross-examining Dr. Russell. Prosecutors allege Read intentionally backed into O'Keefe after she dropped him off at the house party and returned hours later to find him dead. The defense has claimed that she was a victim of a vast police conspiracy and that O'Keefe was fatally beaten by another law enforcement officer at the party. Read has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death. A mistrial was declared last year after jurors said they were at an impasse and deliberating further would be futile. Get caught up with all of the latest in Karen Read's retrial. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Boston Globe
13 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Testimony resumes in Karen Read retrial. Follow live updates.
Testimony resumes Wednesday — 8:39 a.m. .cls-1{clip-path:url(#clippath);}.cls-2,.cls-3{fill:none;}.cls-2,.cls-3,.cls-4{stroke-width:0px;}.cls-5{clip-path:url(#clippath-1);}.cls-3{clip-rule:evenodd;} Link copied By Travis Andersen Testimony resumes Wednesday in Karen Read's murder retrial in Norfolk Superior Court Jurors on Tuesday heard testimony from Dighton police officer Nicholas Barros, who testified that when he saw Read's Lexus SUV outside her parents' residence, just one section of the right side of her taillight was missing, whereas a photo of the taillight later at the Canton police garage showed more extensive damage. Advertisement Barros initially told prosecutor Hank Brennan that he mentioned the difference when he testified at Read's first trial last year. But after Brennan showed him a transcript of that testimony, he acknowledged he didn't mention it. 'I know what I saw,' Barros told Brennan. 'And that wasn't it.' Read, 45, has pleaded not guilty to charges including second-degree murder for allegedly backing her SUV in a drunken rage into her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, early on Jan. 29, 2022, after dropping him off outside a home on Fairview Road following a night of bar-hopping. Her lawyers say she was framed and that O'Keefe entered the house, 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. Advertisement Read's first trial ended in a hung jury and she remains free on bail.
