Karen Read trial features emotional testimony from John O'Keefe's mother
Wednesday marked the first full day of witness testimony in the Karen Read trial inside Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts as John O'Keefe's mother, Peggy O'Keefe, spoke about her son's death publicly for the first time.
This is the second time Read has stood trial, with a hung jury leading to a mistrial in 2024. Read is accused of hitting and killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow in January 2022. Defense attorneys argue that Read is the victim of a coverup and is being framed by several people, including law enforcement.
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan, the former Whitey Bulger attorney who was not part of the first trial, is questioning witnesses on direct, while Alan Jackson has been handling the majority of cross-examination for the defense.
At the end of testimony after jurors left for the day, the judge in the case told attorneys she wants things to move faster, asking the prosecution to see all the clips they plan on introducing.
John O'Keefe's mother testifies
Peggy O'Keefe took the stand as the second prosecution witness of the day. She had not publicly spoken about the case previously. She did not testify during Read's first trial.
Peggy O'Keefe said she recalls talking to Read on the phone while on the way to see her son at Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton.
"I asked her what happened. And she said, 'We went to a party. I left him there.' I said, 'You just left him there?' She said, 'Yes, I just left him there,'" she testified.
When she arrived at the hospital, Peggy O'Keefe was eventually allowed down the hallway to see her son.
"As I'm walking down, I hear Karen Read yell, 'Peg, is he dead? Is he dead, Peg? Peg is he dead?' And I just kept walking," she said. "He was bruised up, his eyes were closed, it was just not a good scene."
Peggy O'Keefe broke down in tears several times, prompting the judge to ask if she needed to take a break, though she declined.
After about 30 minutes of questions from Brennan, Read's attorneys huddled before Jackson stepped to the courtroom microphone.
"Mrs. O'Keefe, I am very, very sorry for your loss. I have no questions for you," Jackson said.
"It's not lost on us that the O'Keefe family has endured tremendous pain. You can't help but see what you saw today and hear it," said Read's father William Read.
Objection to Karen Read documentary clip
After Peggy O'Keefe stepped down, the prosecution wanted to play a clip from the recently released HBO documentary in which Read says, "His mother leans over the kitchen island and says to me, 'I think he looks like he got hit by a car. He looks like he got hit by a car."
Jurors were sent out of the room before the clip was played after the defense objected. With jurors out of the room, Brennan told Judge Beverly Cannone that he wanted to use the video as consciousness of guilt evidence.
Jackson called Brennan's argument "baffling."
"How could that possibly be consciousness of guilt if my client is simply reiterating something that she believes somebody else said? This clip is obviously, very obviously and strategically being used to try to vilify my client with something that is completely irrelevant," Jackson said.
Brennan responded by saying the defense should not get to choose which of Read's public statements jurors see.
"The defendant should not be able to pick and choose which of her statements do not look good for her and do not look bad for her," Brennan said. "She made the statements. They're relevant to this case. It's not unfairly prejudicial. It's a statement that they embraced and they chose and they publicized. And it goes directly to the issue of consciousness of guilty. Just because it hurts, just because it's incriminating, just because it's difficult for the defense is not a basis to preclude it."
Cannone said she wants time to think about the arguments. She said she will decide before the start of Thursday's testimony.
Karen Read after John O'Keefe's death
Canton firefighter Daniel Whitley, took the stand late Wednesday afternoon. He was called to the scene to evaluate Read at the scene of O'Keefe's death and bring her to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
Whitley described Read's behavior after O'Keefe's death when she was taken away for a "Section 12" evaluation. That is an involuntary hospitalization for a person who is determined to be at risk of harm.
According to Whitley, Read was giving nurses a hard time at the hospital and was refusing to provide a urine sample.
David Yannetti was doing the cross-examination of Whitley when court ended for the day.
John O'Keefe's cellphone
Massachusetts State Police Trooper Nicholas Guarino was on the stand for about an hour before Whitley. Guarino, who testified about information from Read and O'Keefe's phones during the first trial, is expected to do the same again this time.
Brennan said earlier that Guarino will be dismissed and recalled throughout the trial to read text messages between O'Keefe and Read.
After giving his professional background and some information about how he collected information from the phones, Guarino stepped down for the time being.
Jennifer McCabe's Google search
Testimony began earlier Wednesday with Kerry Roberts, a friend of O'Keefe who helped Read look for him the night he died, completing her time on the stand after first being called Tuesday.
Jackson attempted to show on cross-examination that each time Roberts spoke to law enforcement after O'Keefe's death, she was with Jennifer McCabe, another key witness in the case. McCabe was with Read and Roberts when they found O'Keefe in the snow. McCabe is the sister-in-law of Brian Albert, who owned the home at the time where O'Keefe's body was found.
Attorneys from both sides agree that at some point on January 29, 2022, McCabe made a Google search about how long it would take someone to die in the cold. Prosecutors say it was after O'Keefe's body was found at the request of Read, while the defense says it was hours earlier, before anyone had discovered he was missing.
On Wednesday, Jackson asked Roberts about her previous grand jury testimony that she heard Read ask McCabe to make the Google search while they sat in the back of a police cruiser.
"I did not hear her ask that. I was told she asked that," Roberts said.
"And the reason you did that, the reason you said that false statement, is that someone told you to say that," Jackson said to Roberts.
"Nobody told me to say that. I knew it happened at that time," Roberts responded, saying she knew it happened because in the days after O'Keefe's death, she and McCabe wrote down a timeline of events to try and refresh their memories.
Brennan returned to question Roberts again after Jackson's cross-examination. He asked Roberts if she was being honest during her grand jury testimony, to which she said yes.
In a final series of questions, Jackson circled back to Roberts' grand jury testimony. Roberts said that she did not intentionally testify to the grand jury that she had heard Read tell McCabe to make the Google search, and that instead she misunderstood the question from Adam Lally, the prosecutor for Read's first trial.
"I said I misunderstood the question, Mr. Jackson," Roberts said to end a tense exchange.
Kerry Roberts testimony
Earlier under direct examination, Roberts testified that when she arrived at O'Keefe's home the morning he died, Read pointed out that the taillight on her Lexus SUV was broken.
"Karen pointed it out and said, "Look - my taillight. Do you think I hit him?" and I said 'No, what are you talking about?'" Roberts said.
Roberts said she remembered noticing there was a metal piece sticking out and that she thought someone might catch their jacket on it.
Once the group later arrived at 34 Fairview Road in Canton, they saw O'Keefe's body in the snow. Roberts said she began to dig O'Keefe's head out of the snow, then performed chest compressions.
She said she remembered O'Keefe's skin was cold, "like he had been there in the elements for a while."
Roberts broke down in tears when shown a photograph of O'Keefe's injuries that was taken at the hospital.
Brennan played police dashboard camera video for Roberts, showing the arrival of first responders after O'Keefe's body was found. Read can be heard yelling in the video, which was played during the first trial as well.
Brennan completed his direct examination after the morning recess, and Jackson took over cross-examination. Roberts was not cross-examined during the first trial.
Jackson attempted to show that Roberts did not mention Read's cracked taillight initially. He also noted that there was no surveillance footage showing Roberts and Read discussing the broken taillight in O'Keefe's driveway.
Roberts told Brennan under direct questioning that the day after O'Keefe's body was found, she went to the home of Canton Police Sgt. Michael Lank. Defense attorneys attempted to show in Read's first trial that Lank has personal connections to the Albert family. O'Keefe's body was found on the lawn of Brian Albert, a now retired Boston police officer.
What happened so far in the Karen Read trial
The trial officially got underway on Tuesday with opening statements. Brennan made the opening statement for the Commonwealth and attempted to use Read's own words against her. He played video clips from previous interviews Read has given.
Brennan also said the temperature of O'Keefe's cellphone battery will be critical in the case, an element that wasn't raised during Read's first trial.
Jackson presented the opening statement for Read's defense, saying "John O'Keefe did not die from being hit by a vehicle. Period."
Jackson focused on the investigation into O'Keefe's death, which he said was "corrupted by bias, corrupted by incompetence, and corrupted by deceit." The defense attorney also zeroed in on former Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the case, who was fired for his conduct during the investigation. Jackson called Proctor a "cancer."
After opening statements, Canton firefighter and paramedic Timothy Nuttall was the first witness called. He testified that he heard Read say "I hit him" at the scene after O'Keefe's body was found. In cross-examination, Jackson attempted to show jurors that Nuttall's testimony has changed over time.
Karen Read trial schedule
After a full day of testimony on Thursday, there is a half day scheduled on Friday.
Originally, Judge Cannone had ordered a voir dire hearing for the prosecution's crash reconstruction experts without jurors present on Friday. That hearing will now take place Monday instead, and jurors will only hear a half day of testimony that day.
Cannone said she believes the defense has continued to violate her orders about discovery with those witnesses and wants to hear from them directly.
ARCCA witnesses Daniel Wolfe and Andrew Rentschler were hired by the federal government as part of its now-closed investigation into the handling of Read's case. They testified that O'Keefe's injuries were not consistent with being hit by a vehicle and are expected to tell jurors the same during the second trial.
There have been ongoing questions from the judge and prosecution about communications between the witnesses and defense attorneys. Cannone said her latest concern is there appear to be 100 or more text messages that were deleted and not provided to the prosecution.
How to watch the Karen Read trial
Read, 45, is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of personal injury of death. She has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
You can watch Read's trial streaming live from Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham on CBS News Boston or in the video player above.
Click here for a full timeline of events in the case.
