A bizarre element was added to the mystery-laden Massachusetts murder trial that has gained national and international attention.
The trial in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham involves Karen Read, who pleaded not guilty to killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, on the night of Jan. 29, 2022.
On June 26, day two of deliberations, defense attorney Alan Jackson called for an emergency hearing to point out that there was no “not guilty” option for jurors to choose on the verdict slip.
Mr. Jackson, in a heated exchange with Judge Beverly Cannone, accused the court of setting up Ms. Read for a guilty verdict even if it was on the lesser charges available to the jury. Those charges included involuntary manslaughter over the “superior charge” of second degree murder.
“It’s almost like the court is directing a verdict of the subordinate charges,” argued Mr. Jackson, warning that the absence of a not guilty option would make any guilty verdict “immediately appealable.”
Judge Cannone initially dismissed Mr. Jackson’s concerns. She said the verdict slips were “exactly how it always is in Massachusetts” and said she won’t order a not guilty option be added to the form.
But 20 minutes later, Judge Cannone reversed her decision, calling Mr. Jackson’s request “reasonable.”
Their exchange added to the barrage of social media comments about the trial that have been posted daily since it began in April.
Ms. Read, 42, is accused of backing over Mr. O'Keefe in a rage outside the Canton home of another police officer just after midnight, and leaving him to die in the driveway during a snowstorm.
The next day, at around 6 a.m., Mr. O'Keefe was found barely alive outside the home of Brian and Nicole Albert after what testimony suggests was a night of heavy drinking with a group of other officers including an Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) agent. Agent Brian Higgins, according to evidence presented by the defense, had a love interest in Ms. Read.
Mr. O'Keefe died a few hours later at an area hospital.
Two EMTs who testified for the prosecution, said they heard Ms. Read say repeatedly that she “hit him.”
However, witnesses who were also in close proximity testified that they did not hear Ms. Read make those statements.
The prosecution presented evidence that around the time Ms. Read was believed to have struck Mr. O'Keefe, her car recording data device showed her briefly backing up at 24 miles per hour.
To counter the EMTs’ claim that Ms. Read said she “hit” Mr. O'Keefe, the defense presented photos that showed one of the EMTs, Katie McLaughlin, at the baby shower for the Alberts’ daughter and suggested she was lying to protect her friends.
The defense put forth a version that Mr. O‘Keefe was severely injured inside the Alberts’ home in a fist fight, presumably with Mr. Higgins, and that in a panic, he and the Alberts dragged Mr. O’Keefe outside and left him in the driveway. Mr. Higgins, according to witness testimony, was seen practice sparring earlier in the evening.
Mr. Higgins and the Alberts denied having anything to do with Mr. O'Keefe’s death.
In cross examination by the defense, Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the case, said he was “drinking buddies” with Mr. Albert’s brother, a Canton police officer.
In attempting to discredit Mr. Proctor, the defense presented evidence that he had close personal ties to most of the people believed to have participated in what they called a coverup.
A Dighton police officer who accompanied Mr. Read’s car to the Canton police department’s garage testified that one of the tail lights on Ms. Read’s car was cracked and missing a small piece.
Yet, despite a team of investigators having searched the area immediately after Mr. O'Keefe was found, Mr. Proctor said he went back to the scene weeks later and found dozens of pieces of tail light from Ms. Read’s car. However, Mr. Jackson said in closing arguments that some of those pieces were “the size of a dinner plate,” calling into question how they could have been missed in the earlier search.
Mr. Proctor denied accusations of planting evidence or being part of any coverup.
A former state medical examiner, testifying for the defense, said Mr. O'Keefe’s injuries were not consistent with being struck by a car.
State medical examiner Irini Scordi-Bello, who performed the autopsy on Mr. O’Keefe, also testified the injuries were not necessarily consistent with being struck by a car and could have been caused by being punched. She testified that the injuries were limited to his face and there were puncture wounds and scratches on one of his arms.
A defense expert claimed the scratches and puncture wounds appear to have been caused by animals and the bite marks were consistent with a dog bite.
Under cross examination, Ms. Albert said their German Shepherd had a history of biting and that she and her husband rehomed their dog in the months after Mr. O'Keefe died.
The defense also presented evidence that someone using the cellphone belonging to Jennifer McCabe, Ms. Albert’s sister, conducted a Google search on how long it takes to die in the cold, hours before Mr. O'Keefe was found unconscious in the Alberts’ driveway.
Phone records showed the search was conducted around 2:30 a.m., the defense said, noting that the time was important because Ms. Read was seen on a home camera pulling into Mr. O'Keefe’s driveway miles away from the Alberts’ home two hours earlier.
The prosecution argued that the internet search was done closer to the time Mr. O'Keefe’s body was found and that the search Ms. McCabe began at 2:30 a.m. was part of an open browser search on an unrelated matter.
Ms. McCabe testified she conducted the search at the request of Ms. Read after arriving on scene and seeing Ms. O'Keefe in the Alberts’ driveway.
In other testimony, a plow driver who was working all night in the vicinity of the Alberts’ home, including the time the prosecution said Ms. Read left the scene, said he didn’t see Mr. O'Keefe in the driveway.
The jury in the case continues its third day of deliberation on June 27.
