Karen Read murder trial: Live updates as second juror excused; testimony continues
Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, with an SUV during a winter storm
Testimony resumed Friday in the murder trial of Karen Read, who is accused of hitting John O’Keefe, her boyfriend, with an SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm. Read, 44, of Mansfield, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and other charges. The prosecution says she hit O’Keefe with her black SUV outside of a home at 34 Fairview Road in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022, following a night of drinking. Her defense plans to argue that someone else is responsible for killing O’Keefe.The trial started with Judge Beverly Cannone speaking privately with four jurors. It’s not clear why each juror was brought in one by one for private conversations, however one of the jurors was excused for “personal reasons.” Earlier this week another juror was excused.Testimony then resumed with Jessica Hyde, owner of a digital forensics company called Hexordia. Hyde said she analyzed data from Jennifer McCabe’s phone using multiple tools. McCabe, who testified earlier in the trial, was at the house in Canton where O’Keefe was eventually found.Live updates: 11:07 a.m. Hyde says another search was initiated at 6:22:49am for info about how long to die in the cold. Then another at 6:23:51am. 11:05 a.m. Hyde says she found a search for “hos long to die in cold” with timestamp at 2:27am. But says that timestamp “is not the time necessarily of this search.” Says there’s a high likelihood that the timestamp applies to when tab was opened for another sports-related search. 10:55 a.m. Hyde says one of the tools found the phrase “hos long to die in cold.” 10:50 a.m. Hyde says she used one of the tools to focus on Safari history for the date 1/29/22. 10:45 a.m. Hyde says she analyzed data from Jen McCabe’s phone using multiple tools. 10:35 a.m. Next prosecution witness: Jessica Hyde, owner of a digital forensics company called Hexordia. 10:30 a.m. Judge notes that the juror is missing. Says the reasons is “personal” to that juror. Says they others should not consider it. 10:16 a.m. The juror holds up her hand as if to have good-bye and exits the courtroom. 10:15 a.m. Now the first juror is back for a third third trip to the bench. 10:10 a.m. Now another one of the previously questioned jurors is back at sidebar for less than a minute and leaves again. I think she was the third one. 10:05 a.m. Now the original juror who was brought in this morning has been brought back. She’s back at the bench talking with judge and attorneys. 9:57 a.m. Now a FOURTH juror has been brought in for private questioning by the judge. 9:55 a.m. Now a THIRD juror has entered the courtroom and is speaking with the judge at sidebar. The juror is laughing and seems at ease. All three jurors brought in so far are women. 9:50 a.m. Reminder: a male juror was dismissed earlier this week for “personal” reasons. There are currently 16 jurors on the panel. 9:45 a.m. Now a different juror has been brought in for a private conversation with the judge and attorneys at sidebar. This is NOT the same juror as the one brought in earlier. 9:35 a.m. Judge returns to the bench and calls attorney to sidebar. The courtroom camera is still off. 9:20 a.m. The judge orders the courtroom camera turned off. The juror exits and the judge orders a recess. It’s not yet clear why the juror was brought in. Nor if she is being dismissed. 9:10 a.m. The judge enters and calls the attorneys to a sidebar. Then they bring in one of the jurors and are now speaking to her privately. The other jurors are absent. Good morning. Day 25 of testimony. On Thursday, Lt. Brian Tully testified Read would have had enough time to return to house where she’d allegedly left John O’Keefe in the snow before going to ask for help to find him. Follow posts from reporter David BienickRelated links:Recap of testimony, evidence from each day of the case Evidence slideshowWhat to know about the case:Karen Read, 44, of Mansfield, is accused of second-degree murder and other charges. The prosecution says she hit her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with her vehicle outside of a home in Canton during a snowstorm on Jan. 29, 2022, following a night of drinking. She returned hours later to find him in a snowbank.Read has pleaded not guilty.Read and her defense team claim she is the victim of a cover-up and plan to present a third-party culprit defense. They claim O’Keefe was beaten inside the home, bitten by a dog, and then left outside.In pretrial motions, prosecutors revealed the existence of text messages they said suggested a “romantic entanglement” with a friend who was present at locations Read and O’Keefe visited on the night of the incident. Other documents have also suggested trouble in the relationship between Read and O’Keefe.Read is also accused of having frequent contact with a controversial blogger known as “Turtleboy,” Aiden Kearney, who now faces charges in related cases.Opening statements were delivered on April 29.The trial is expected to last 6-8 weeks.Case evidence slideshow: Prosecutors are trying to show that Read’s alleged actions outside 34 Fairview Road were intentional. Read’s lawyers have alleged there was a cover-up involving members of several law enforcement agencies. They say O’Keefe was beaten by someone else inside the home, bitten by a dog and then left outside.The defense, which has been allowed to present what is called third-party culprit evidence, argues that investigators focused on Read because she was a “convenient outsider” who saved them from having to consider other suspects. Those they have implicated include Brian Albert, who owned the home in Canton where O’Keefe died, and Brian Higgins, an ATF agent who was there that night.Higgins testified about a “romantic” encounter and a series of text messages he exchanged with Read. In those flirty messages, Read told him that O’Keefe had “hooked up” with another woman during a vacation.Proctor, the lead investigator in the case, acknowledged during his testimony that he was friends with several witnesses, including the brother of the man who hosted the house party where O’Keefe’s body was found outside. The defense also criticized Proctor for sharing details of the investigation with friends and family on text exchanges and for texts in which he appeared to single out Karen Read as responsible for O’Keefe’s death less than 24 hours after his body was found.Proctor acknowledged to the jury that he called Read a series of names including “wack job” in texts to friends, family and fellow troopers. Proctor also repeatedly apologized for language used in text exchanges, saying they were “something I am not proud of and I shouldn’t have wrote in private or any type of setting.” But he insisted the comments had no influence on the investigation. The defense is trying to convince the jury that O’Keefe was beaten and suggested that Colin Albert had been in a fight. Albert said a hand injury came when he fell in a driveway and that he never saw O’Keefe during the celebration of his cousin’s birthday on the night in question.He also confirmed on cross-examination that he has known Proctor since he was a child. A former Massachusetts police toxicologist, Nicholas Roberts, testified that Read’s blood alcohol content at 9 a.m. was between .078% and .083%, right around the legal limit for intoxication in Massachusetts. Based on a police report that suggested her last drink was at 12:45 a.m., her peak blood alcohol level would have been between .135% and .292%, he said.O’Keefe had been raising his niece and nephew, and they told jurors that they heard frequent arguments between him and Read. Both of the teenagers described an incident in which O’Keefe asked Read to leave the house and she refused.The trial’s first few days detailed the futile efforts of first responders to save O’Keefe. They found him face up when they arrived just before dawn on Jan. 29. He was pronounced dead at the hospital, and an autopsy later found he died of hypothermia and blunt force trauma. Several of the first responders said they heard Read make statements, including, “I hit him,” after O’Keefe was found. Defense attorneys confronted several of those witnesses by asking why those alleged remarks were not included in official reports.Officers also testified about unusual procedures used during the investigation, including the decision to collect bloody snow in red plastic cups and clearing snow from the crime scene.
Testimony resumed Friday in the murder trial of Karen Read, who is accused of hitting John O’Keefe, her boyfriend, with an SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm.
Read, 44, of Mansfield, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and other charges. The prosecution says she hit O’Keefe with her black SUV outside of a home at 34 Fairview Road in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022, following a night of drinking. Her defense plans to argue that someone else is responsible for killing O’Keefe.
The trial started with Judge Beverly Cannone speaking privately with four jurors. It’s not clear why each juror was brought in one by one for private conversations, however one of the jurors was excused for “personal reasons.”
Earlier this week another juror was excused.
Testimony then resumed with Jessica Hyde, owner of a digital forensics company called Hexordia. Hyde said she analyzed data from Jennifer McCabe’s phone using multiple tools. McCabe, who testified earlier in the trial, was at the house in Canton where O’Keefe was eventually found.
Live updates:
- 11:07 a.m. Hyde says another search was initiated at 6:22:49am for info about how long to die in the cold. Then another at 6:23:51am.
- 11:05 a.m. Hyde says she found a search for “hos long to die in cold” with timestamp at 2:27am. But says that timestamp “is not the time necessarily of this search.” Says there’s a high likelihood that the timestamp applies to when tab was opened for another sports-related search.
- 10:55 a.m. Hyde says one of the tools found the phrase “hos long to die in cold.”
- 10:50 a.m. Hyde says she used one of the tools to focus on Safari history for the date 1/29/22.
- 10:45 a.m. Hyde says she analyzed data from Jen McCabe’s phone using multiple tools.
- 10:35 a.m. Next prosecution witness: Jessica Hyde, owner of a digital forensics company called Hexordia.
- 10:30 a.m. Judge notes that the juror is missing. Says the reasons is “personal” to that juror. Says they others should not consider it.
- 10:16 a.m. The juror holds up her hand as if to have good-bye and exits the courtroom.
- 10:15 a.m. Now the first juror is back for a third third trip to the bench.
- 10:10 a.m. Now another one of the previously questioned jurors is back at sidebar for less than a minute and leaves again. I think she was the third one.
- 10:05 a.m. Now the original juror who was brought in this morning has been brought back. She’s back at the bench talking with judge and attorneys.
- 9:57 a.m. Now a FOURTH juror has been brought in for private questioning by the judge.
- 9:55 a.m. Now a THIRD juror has entered the courtroom and is speaking with the judge at sidebar. The juror is laughing and seems at ease. All three jurors brought in so far are women.
- 9:50 a.m. Reminder: a male juror was dismissed earlier this week for “personal” reasons. There are currently 16 jurors on the panel.
- 9:45 a.m. Now a different juror has been brought in for a private conversation with the judge and attorneys at sidebar. This is NOT the same juror as the one brought in earlier.
- 9:35 a.m. Judge returns to the bench and calls attorney to sidebar. The courtroom camera is still off.
- 9:20 a.m. The judge orders the courtroom camera turned off. The juror exits and the judge orders a recess. It’s not yet clear why the juror was brought in. Nor if she is being dismissed.
- 9:10 a.m. The judge enters and calls the attorneys to a sidebar. Then they bring in one of the jurors and are now speaking to her privately. The other jurors are absent.
- Good morning. Day 25 of testimony. On Thursday, Lt. Brian Tully testified Read would have had enough time to return to house where she’d allegedly left John O’Keefe in the snow before going to ask for help to find him.
- Follow posts from reporter David Bienick
Related links:
What to know about the case:
- Karen Read, 44, of Mansfield, is accused of second-degree murder and other charges. The prosecution says she hit her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with her vehicle outside of a home in Canton during a snowstorm on Jan. 29, 2022, following a night of drinking. She returned hours later to find him in a snowbank.
- Read has pleaded not guilty.
- Read and her defense team claim she is the victim of a cover-up and plan to present a third-party culprit defense. They claim O’Keefe was beaten inside the home, bitten by a dog, and then left outside.
- In pretrial motions, prosecutors revealed the existence of text messages they said suggested a “romantic entanglement” with a friend who was present at locations Read and O’Keefe visited on the night of the incident. Other documents have also suggested trouble in the relationship between Read and O’Keefe.
- Read is also accused of having frequent contact with a controversial blogger known as “Turtleboy,” Aiden Kearney, who now faces charges in related cases.
- Opening statements were delivered on April 29.
- The trial is expected to last 6-8 weeks.
Case evidence slideshow:
Prosecutors are trying to show that Read’s alleged actions outside 34 Fairview Road were intentional. Read’s lawyers have alleged there was a cover-up involving members of several law enforcement agencies. They say O’Keefe was beaten by someone else inside the home, bitten by a dog and then left outside.
The defense, which has been allowed to present what is called third-party culprit evidence, argues that investigators focused on Read because she was a “convenient outsider” who saved them from having to consider other suspects. Those they have implicated include Brian Albert, who owned the home in Canton where O’Keefe died, and Brian Higgins, an ATF agent who was there that night.
Higgins testified about a “romantic” encounter and a series of text messages he exchanged with Read. In those flirty messages, Read told him that O’Keefe had “hooked up” with another woman during a vacation.
Proctor, the lead investigator in the case, acknowledged during his testimony that he was friends with several witnesses, including the brother of the man who hosted the house party where O’Keefe’s body was found outside. The defense also criticized Proctor for sharing details of the investigation with friends and family on text exchanges and for texts in which he appeared to single out Karen Read as responsible for O’Keefe’s death less than 24 hours after his body was found.
Proctor acknowledged to the jury that he called Read a series of names including “wack job” in texts to friends, family and fellow troopers. Proctor also repeatedly apologized for language used in text exchanges, saying they were “something I am not proud of and I shouldn’t have wrote in private or any type of setting.” But he insisted the comments had no influence on the investigation.
The defense is trying to convince the jury that O’Keefe was beaten and suggested that Colin Albert had been in a fight. Albert said a hand injury came when he fell in a driveway and that he never saw O’Keefe during the celebration of his cousin’s birthday on the night in question.
He also confirmed on cross-examination that he has known Proctor since he was a child.
A former Massachusetts police toxicologist, Nicholas Roberts, testified that Read’s blood alcohol content at 9 a.m. was between .078% and .083%, right around the legal limit for intoxication in Massachusetts. Based on a police report that suggested her last drink was at 12:45 a.m., her peak blood alcohol level would have been between .135% and .292%, he said.
O’Keefe had been raising his niece and nephew, and they told jurors that they heard frequent arguments between him and Read. Both of the teenagers described an incident in which O’Keefe asked Read to leave the house and she refused.
The trial’s first few days detailed the futile efforts of first responders to save O’Keefe. They found him face up when they arrived just before dawn on Jan. 29. He was pronounced dead at the hospital, and an autopsy later found he died of hypothermia and blunt force trauma.
Several of the first responders said they heard Read make statements, including, “I hit him,” after O’Keefe was found. Defense attorneys confronted several of those witnesses by asking why those alleged remarks were not included in official reports.
Officers also testified about unusual procedures used during the investigation, including the decision to collect bloody snow in red plastic cups and clearing snow from the crime scene.