Forensic expert Jessica Hyde testifies at Karen Read trial about Jennifer McCabe's disputed Google search
The high-profile Karen Read case was back in a Massachusetts courtroom for an 11th day of witness testimony. A Massachusetts State Police trooper who uncovered evidence in the area where John O'Keefe's body was found was the first to take the stand, followed by forensic expert Jessica Hyde analyzing Jennifer McCabe's disputed Google search.
Read is facing trial for a second time on 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 with a mistrial due to a hung jury.
Prosecutors say Read hit and killed Boston police officer John O'Keefe, who she was dating at the time, with her SUV and left him to die in the snow during a blizzard in Canton in January 2022. Read's defense argues that she is being framed by several people, including law enforcement. They claim that O'Keefe was actually killed during a fight inside 34 Fairview Road, the home owned by Brian Albert.
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan has been handling direct questioning while Alan Jackson performs the majority of cross-examination for the defense.
"I'm going down Jen or you are"
The final thing jurors heard on Wednesday was a clip of Read talking in a recently released HBO documentary series.
Unlike the first trial, prosecutors have been playing clips from Read's various media interviews during the second trial.
"Jen McCabe, it's me or her. You know, I'm going down Jen or you are," Read said in the clip.
Outside court, Karen Read said there is more to the clip. "I'll have more reaction when you hear the whole thing in context," Read said. "That was seven seconds because there's a lot of context... You'll see."
Judge Beverly Cannone said for a second straight day that the proceedings are on or slightly ahead of schedule. She told jurors that rather than having a new witness take the stand who is likely to be there for a while, they would end about a half hour early.
Outside court, Read suggested that the prosecution's case is almost over and that jurors will see the context soon when her team makes its case. Lawyers are under a gag order in the case, so WBZ-TV is unable to confirm how many more witnesses the prosecution expects to call.
Several notable witnesses from the first trial have not yet taken the stand, including Brian Albert, Brian Higgins and Michael Proctor.
Jessica Hyde testifies about Jennifer McCabe's Google search
Digital forensics examiner Jessica Hyde, a professor at George Mason University, took the stand just before noon on Wednesday and concluded her testimony around 3:30 p.m. Hyde works for a company that writes and develops courses for digital technology.
Hyde was testifying about the timing of McCabe's Google search about how long it would take someone to die in the cold. Hyde also testified during Read's first trial.
Prosecutors say the search happened just after 6 a.m. at Read's request while defense attorneys say it happened at 2:27 a.m., hours before O'Keefe's body was found.
There was a typing error in the search, resulting in the "hos long to die in cold" search.
Hyde, and another expert earlier in the trial, have said that McCabe opened an internet search tab at 2:27 a.m. for something unrelated, left it open, then used the same tab for the Google search hours later.
"There is a time stamp for the search 'hos long to die in cold' – but that is not a search time, it's a time the tab was either opened or brought from the background," Hyde testified.
Hyde testified "to a scientific degree of certainty" that the search for how long it would take someone to die in the cold took place at 6:24 a.m. on January 29, 2022.
In addition, Hyde said she determined that no user deleted the search record for how long it would take someone to die in the cold.
Jessica Hyde cross-examination
Defense attorney Bob Alessi handled cross-examination of Hyde.
He began by highlighting that Hyde's report shows that O'Keefe's phone registered him taking 80 steps at 12:21:10 on January 29, 2022. The steps lasted for just over three minutes.
In previous testimony, defense attorneys have attempted to show that steps O'Keefe took prove that he entered Brian Albert's home. The prosecution says that there is no evidence that O'Keefe ever went inside.
Alessi noted that Apple keeps its source codes proprietary, meaning very few people have access to them.
"Wouldn't the best information be from the Apple source code?" Alessi asked.
Hyde said that it is considered acceptable to conduct testing to determine how the functioning of something works, and you do not necessarily need access to the source code.
During his cross-examination, Alessi noted that Hyde spoke to Brian Tully 10-20 times over the last several years while working on her analysis.
Tully was Massachusetts State Police detective unit commander at the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office. He was later transferred out of the office amid an internal affairs investigation. Tully was one of the supervisors of Michael Proctor, who was later fired for his conduct during Read's case.
On redirect questioning, Brennan asked if she was ever asked by anyone to reach a certain conclusion.
"My analysis was independent of the District Attorney's office," Hyde said.
At times Wednesday, some jurors started to yawn and rub their eyes.
"In an ideal world, you would have everybody's attention when it comes to this kind of stuff because ultimately the expert opinions often are some of the most important pieces of testimony that come in," said WBZ Legal Analyst Katherine Loftus. "But it's so dry, that even when somebody is paying attention, most of our brains aren't really able to process what they're talking about."
Attorneys argue over Jessica Hyde
Jurors were sent out of the room for an extended morning recess after Massachusetts State Police trooper Connor Keefe, the first witness of the day, concluded his testimony.
With no jury in the room, defense attorneys argued about concerns they have about Hyde.
Alessi said that the defense should be allowed to cross-examine Hyde about her opinion being deemed not reliable in an unrelated case in Maryland.
Brennan accused the defense of "an attempt to malign a witness" and "trying to cheapen her testimony in front of the jury."
Judge Cannone said she would think about the arguments for the remainder of the morning recess. After the break, Cannone ruled that the defense could not reference the Maryland case in their cross-examination of Hyde.
Michael Proctor's reports
Earlier, David Yanetti handled cross-examination of Trooper Keefe for the defense. He asked Keefe about his relationship with Michael Proctor.
Yannetti handed Keefe a report from an interview Proctor and Keefe conducted with Sarah Levinson, who was at a party for several hours inside 34 Fairview Road on the night in question. Levinson was not interviewed until October 2022.
"I did not have any input on how he wrote this report," Keefe said.
Yannetti questioned him about surveillance video that was obtained from C.F. McCarthy's, a bar in Canton.
"It was Michael Proctor who did the analysis, correct?" Yannetti asked.
Keefe said he only obtained the video, he did not do any analysis. Keefe said it was Proctor who did the report.
Keefe attended O'Keefe's autopsy on January 31, 2022, conducted at the medical examiner's office in Sandwich, Massachusetts.
Yannetti asked if there was anything that prevented him from giving the examiner any input as the autopsy was done.
"We don't give input, we give the facts as we know in the case," Keefe said.
Karen Read trial taillight evidence
Keefe was the first on the stand Wednesday.
Keefe was at 34 Fairview Road in Canton in the evening hours of January 29, 2022. The Massachusetts State Police evidence team responded just before 6 p.m. to search for evidence. Keefe did not directly search, but was processing evidence.
State police were searching for items including taillight pieces and O'Keefe's missing shoe.
Keefe held up pieces of red taillight and the shoe for jurors shortly after taking the stand.
Karen Read trial latest
Several witnesses took the stand on Tuesday. Retired Canton Police Lt. Paul Gallagher completed his testimony about how evidence was collected. Meteorologist Robert Gilman testified about the weather conditions on the night of O'Keefe's death.
Massachusetts State Police Trooper Nicholas Guarino was also on the stand as angry voicemails Karen Read left O'Keefe on the night in question were played in court.
Canton Police Lt. Charles Rae testified Tuesday about the condition of Read's Lexus SUV on January 29, 2022.
Massachusetts State Police Lt. Kevin O'Hara was the final witness of the day Tuesday, talking about his team's search for evidence hours after O'Keefe's body was found.
