Prosecution in Karen Read trial nears end of case as crash reconstructionist begins testimony
The Karen Read trial was back inside Norfolk Superior Court on Tuesday for the first time in nearly a week as the prosecution could be entering the final days of its case. Judson Welcher, an accident reconstructionist from Aperture LLC, who is key to the prosecution's case, took the stand to begin his testimony.
Welcher was still on the stand for direct questioning when court ended for the day and will be back on the stand Wednesday at 10 a.m.
The defense could get the case at some point in the coming days. Read told reporters outside of court recently that Welcher is expected to be the prosecution's final witness. Lawyers cannot confirm what other witnesses may take the stand or when because they remain under a gag order.
The prosecution accuses Read of hitting and killing Boston police officer John O'Keefe, who she was dating at the time, with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow outside Brian Albert's home in Canton, Massachusetts after a night of heavy drinking in 2022. Read argues she is being framed and O'Keefe was actually killed during a fight inside the home at 34 Fairview Road. She has pleaded not guilty.
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan has been questioning the majority of witnesses. Alan Jackson has questioned most witnesses on cross-examination for the defense, with David Yannetti and Bob Alessi questioning some as well.
Attorneys argue over "whether a collision occurred"
At the end of the day, attorneys argued without the jury present over the defense's opposition to the prosecution being allowed to ask its expert "whether a collision occurred."
Alessi said he is fine with testimony on whether car damage is consistent with a pedestrian collision.
Brennan responded by saying the defense went against their own argument during opening statements when they repeatedly said "there is no collision."
Alessi then said of the defense team, "We practice what we preach," noting that their own crash reconstruction experts will not conclude whether a collision occurred.
The judge did not make a ruling and said she will let attorneys know what she decides on Wednesday before the jury is brought in.
Reconstruction videos
Earlier, testimony from Welcher included videos from testing he performed using an SUV similar to Read's Lexus.
In the videos Welcher, who is a similar height as O'Keefe, wore clothes like those O'Keefe wore the night he died. Welcher was holding a cocktail glass during the tests, like prosecutors say O'Keefe was when they allege that Read hit him.
O'Keefe had cuts on his arm. The prosecution has attempted to show they were from Read hitting him with her SUV. The defense says the injuries are dog bites that occurred when they claim O'Keefe was killed during a fight inside Brian Albert's home.
How did Karen Read break her taillight?
Read's defense has argued that damage to her taillight happened in the driveway of O'Keefe's home around 5:07 a.m. on January 29, 2022 as she was backing out of the garage and made contact with the vehicle.
The contact between vehicles was captured on O'Keefe's home surveillance camera.
Welcher went to O'Keefe's home and used scanning technology to recreate Read backing out of the garage and find the exact angle the SUVs made contact.
Welcher noted that there was some snow knocked off of O'Keefe's vehicle, but no damage done.
Brennan asked Welcher if he was looking for anything in the snow when analyzing O'Keefe's surveillance video. Welcher said he was looking to see if there were any taillight fragments in the snow, and he did not see any.
Welcher was asked if based on his research he developed an opinion on whether the impact could have broken Read's taillight.
"That impact did not break or crack that taillight," Welcher said, noting his opinion was "to a high degree of engineering certainty."
Dr. Judson Welcher testifies
Welcher began his work in the case in September 2024. Welcher works with Shanon Burgess, who testified over two days last week about data from Read's Lexus SUV. Burgess faced tense cross-examination about his professional credentials and how he compiled data.
Burgess testified that there was a difference of about 21 to 29 seconds between the time on Read's Lexus and the time on O'Keefe's cellphone.
Welcher said that when factoring in that variance, the time on the final event from Read's Lexus in front of 34 Fairview Road is an approximate match for the time O'Keefe's cellphone is locked for the final time.
Welcher testified that Read's SUV traveled backwards at about 23.9 miles per hour for at least 54 feet.
Read was asked outside of court if Welcher's testimony is true. "The data is what the data is and it's going to come out cleanly, more cleanly, in our case in chief," Read said Tuesday.
In addition, Welcher testified about Read's drive from 34 Fairview Road to O'Keefe's home several miles away.
Welcher testified that if Read took a shorter route, she could have driven the 2.3 miles in 4 minutes and 15 seconds at an average speed of 32.47 miles per hour, or the longer route of 2.8 miles at an average speed of 39.5 miles per hour.
Prosecutors say that would line up with the time that Read arrived at O'Keefe's home. Cellphone data shows she connected to his WiFi.
Who is Judson Welcher?
Welcher has a PhD in biomedical engineering and wrote a peer-reviewed paper on sideswipe crashes. He said about 10% of his work involves pedestrian impacts.
Welcher wrote a paper on Toyota data recorders, the same company that makes the Lexus equipment. He has been an accredited accident reconstructionist since February 1995.
"Generally, my job is to look at data and see what the data shows. I have no dog in this fight. I don't quite frankly care. What I'm doing is trying to do a good engineering job, which is looking at the data and drawing sound principles and sound conclusions from the data," Welcher said.
Welcher said he personally looked at Read's SUV, O'Keefe's SUV, the Albert home at 34 Fairview Road in Canton, and purchased a 2021 Lexus for testing.
"It's always good when possible to inspect everything you can inspect," Welcher said.
Welcher is expected to be the Commonwealth's final witness. WBZ Legal Analyst Katherine Loftus explains why that matters.
"I think, from the Commonwealth's perspective is the sort of the culmination of all of the evidence that has been presented throughout the case, so I do think that he is really a pivotal witness for the Commonwealth, and whether the jury finds his testimony credible, likely the entirety of the case hangs on that," Loftus said.
Witness questioned without jury present
Court was scheduled to begin for the day at 9 a.m., but there was a sidebar for about 30 minutes to start the day, followed by a recess. Around 10:25 a.m., Welcher took the stand to be questioned by Alessi without the jury present.
The line of questioning Tuesday was about changes Welcher made to his presentation in recent days based on an amended report by Burgess. The changes were critical because the prosecution says they bring into focus the timeline of when Read is accused of hitting O'Keefe.
After the hearing, jurors were brought in and Welcher took the stand again, this time with the jury present.
New Karen Read filing
In a new filing dated Monday, Read's attorneys submitted an amended witness list.
Matthew Coleman, Michael Arico, Nicholas David White, and Jonathan Diamandis were added to the defense's list of witnesses they intend to call. According to the filing, the witnesses were added "for the sole purpose of authenticating records."
Read said Tuesday those potential witnesses are friends of former Massachusetts State Police trooper Michael Proctor who could authenticate his text messages. It is not clear if the witnesses, or Proctor, will definitely be called to the stand by the defense.
When she was asked outside of court Tuesday, Read would not say on camera whether the men or Proctor would testify.
Proctor was fired for his conduct handling Read's case, in part because of text messages he sent to friends, family and coworkers. In one of the messages, Proctor wrote that "hopefully she kills herself." Another text message showed that Proctor called Read a "whackjob [expletive]." Proctor himself testified in the first trial, calling the text messages "regrettable." It is not known if either the prosecution or defense will call Proctor during the retrial.
The messages were discovered as part of the Department of Justice's now-closed investigation into how police handled Read's case.
Karen Read trial latest
Full days of testimony are scheduled for Wednesday and Friday. A half day of testimony is scheduled to take place on Thursday.
Judge Beverly Cannone delayed the start of last Wednesday's witness testimony when she said an "issue" came to her attention that required her to question every juror individually at sidebar. When court proceedings resumed, all jurors were still present, though two had changed seats.
Last week's witnesses included a forensic analyst discussing the movement of Read's Lexus SUV, a brain surgeon, and a crime lab analyst.
