Karen Read trial day 3 ends early after focus on text messages with John O'Keefe
The high-profile Karen Read trial continued in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts on Thursday, though testimony ended earlier than originally planned due to confusion over expected witnesses.
Judge Beverly Cannone started the day by allowing the prosecution to play a clip of Read's recent documentary appearance for jurors, and later text messages between Read and John O'Keefe were read in court.
The day was cut short when Cannone said there was "some confusion with counsel regarding witnesses," adding "Those are the witnesses for today, so we are done for today. Counsel assures me that won't happen again." Cannone added that the trial remains on schedule, and jurors will return Friday for a half day of court that will include a visit to 34 Fairview Road.
Read is accused of hitting O'Keefe, her Boston police officer boyfriend, with her SUV after a night of drinking and leaving him to die in the snow outside the Fairview Road home in 2022. Her defense says O'Keefe was actually killed during a fight inside the home, then dragged outside. Read's first trial ended with a hung jury in 2024.
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan, the former Whitey Bulger attorney, is questioning witnesses on direct during the retrial, while Alan Jackson and David Yannetti have been handling cross-examination for the defense.
Karen Read says "I shouldn't have been driving"
Brennan played several clips of Read discussing in various media interviews how much she drank in the hours before O'Keefe's death. She described herself as buzzed.
In Read's first trial, surveillance video showed Read ordering several mixed drinks throughout the night and appearing to add an additional shot of liquor into each glass. In the interviews played Thursday, Read took issue with how her drinking was portrayed, saying the original drinks were weak and she was just making them closer to what she considered a regular drink.
"I did not consume nine vodka martinis or take nine shots, depending on how you count it. The last two drinks I did not touch," Read said in one interview.
In a clip from the HBO documentary about her case, Read admitted she should not have been behind the wheel.
"I shouldn't have been driving. But I know I wasn't driving recklessly," Read said, later adding, "I know I was driving safely. Not as safely or as alert as I would be if I had no alcohol. But I was not driving recklessly by any measure."
Text messages between John O'Keefe and Karen Read
Massachusetts State Police Trooper Nicholas Guarino, who will be recalled throughout the trial, was back on the stand to read text messages between Read and O'Keefe.
The first messages read were from January 28, 2022, hours before prosecutors allege that Read hit O'Keefe with her SUV.
"Tell me if you're interested in someone else. Can't think of any other reason you've been like this," Read writes.
"Nope," O'Keefe replies, adding in another message, "Things haven't been great between us for awhile. Ever consider that?"
"Sick of always arguing and fighting. It's been weekly for several months now. So yeh I'm not as quick to jump back into being lovie dovie as you apparently," O'Keefe says. Read calls O'Keefe several times as the text conversation is going on, but he rejects the calls. "Omg!! Stop calling," O'Keefe wrote, later rejecting another call and saying "I'm not answering!! Stop calling."
Eventually, they speak on the phone for just under five minutes. The text messages continue and Read continuously tries to get O'Keefe to meet her for drinks.
"You're like jonesing to drink. So go!" O'Keefe said in the afternoon.
"Was hoping after this morning you'd be interested in smoothing things over with me," Read said around 6:30 p.m.
Just after 7:15 p.m., O'Keefe says he and his friend Mike Camerano are headed out and asks if she plans to join them. They settle on heading to C.F. McCarthy's in Canton.
"We're taking mikes car so I'm relying on you for a ride home if he leaves," O'Keefe wrote.
"I'll head up there in a few min. Let me know if you leave," Read writes at 8:35 p.m.
Guarino stepped down from the stand after reading the text messages, and will be recalled again in the future to present more communications.
John O'Keefe's friend testifies
Earlier, after two witnesses were briefly called to the stand to verify surveillance video from Canton bars C.F. McCarthy's and Waterfall Bar and Grille, Camerano took the stand.
Camerano was drinking at C.F. McCarthy's with O'Keefe and Karen Read for several hours on January 28, 2022. Camerano had to leave to pick up his son around 9:30 p.m., and said that when he left C.F. McCarthy's, Read and O'Keefe were still at the bar.
Between 5 and 6 a.m. on January 29, 2022, Camerano woke up to missed calls from his wife and from Read. Camerano later found out O'Keefe was missing, and drove to his house.
On cross-examination, Yannetti began by establishing that O'Keefe had never told him that he was considering breaking up with Read. Yannetti also noted that O'Keefe and Read were affectionate the night of his death and seemed happy to see each other.
"You witnessed no bickering, no tension, correct?" Yannetti asked. "No," Camerano responded.
On re-direct, Brennan asked Camerano if he knew what was going on behind closed doors with the couple, if he knew if there had been any vulgarities exchanged, or if he knew if O'Keefe was trying to end the relationship. Camerano said no to all of the questions. Brennan asked if he knew of any jealousy in the relationship.
"I mean, they did everything together, a lot of things together. I thought at times you could see she didn't want other women around John," Camerano said. He stepped down from the stand after less than 20 minutes.
Canton paramedic concludes testimony
Canton firefighter and paramedic Daniel Whitley was the first witness on the stand Thursday for cross-examination, which he started Wednesday.
Whitley was called to transport Read to the hospital for an involuntary psychiatric evaluation after O'Keefe's body was found.
During his testimony in Read's first trial and Wednesday under direct examination, Whitley testified that Read asked him at one point about O'Keefe being out in the snow for many hours without a jacket.
During a tense cross-examination, Yannetti attempted to show that Whitley's testimony at trial is different than it was when he appeared before the grand jury several months after O'Keefe's death.
On re-direct, Brennan asked Whitley if he has any interest in the outcome of the case.
"I do not," Whitley said.
Karen Read interview clip
Near the start of proceedings on Thursday, a clip was played from the recently released HBO Max documentary in which Read says about John O'Keefe's mother, Peggy O'Keefe, "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."
Brennan wanted to play the clip on Wednesday, but Judge Cannone sent the jury out of the room after the defense objected. Brennan said he wanted to use the video as consciousness of guilt evidence.
"This clip is obviously, very obviously and strategically being used to try to vilify my client with something that is completely irrelevant," Jackson said.
"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 in response to Jackson.
Cannone did not rule Wednesday, saying she wanted to think over the arguments until Thursday morning. She did not explain her decision to allow the clip, simply telling Brennan "You can play it" before the jury was brought in for the day.
"Ultimately, I think they really truly believed her defense team, that they were never going to be held against her because she was going to be acquitted after trial one," said WBZ-TV legal analyst Katherine Loftus. "That's the problem, ultimately. It's so rare to see a criminal defendant speak to the media and although most cases are not of this magnitude, we're seeing live and in action why you don't speak as a criminal defendant."
What has happened this week in the Karen Read trial?
Entering Thursday, five witnesses had taken the stand after opening statements were presented Tuesday to start the trial.
Timothy Nuttal and Whitley, first responders at the scene of O'Keefe's death, testified in addition to Guarino.
John O'Keefe's mother, Peggy O'Keefe, testified Wednesday, as did Kerry Roberts, a friend of O'Keefe's who was with Read when they discovered his body.
How to watch the Karen Read trial
Jurors are expected for a half day of testimony and the visit to Fairview Road on Friday to conclude the first week of the trial.
Read, 45, 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 of death.
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.
