DEDHAM, Mass. — Witness testimony in Karen Read’s retrial enters its third day on Thursday morning, less than 24 hours after the mother of the man she’s accused of killing shed tears on the stand in Dedham’s Norfolk Superior Court.
Read is accused of striking her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, with her SUV in January 2022 and leaving him to die alone in the snow outside of a house party in Canton. She has been charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence, and leaving the scene.
UPDATE (12 p.m.): Judge dismisses jurors early after ‘confusion’ about witnesses on Day 3 of Karen Read’s retrial
Last on the stand: Nicholas Guarino (Massachusetts State Police trooper who analyzed Karen Read and John O’Keefe’s cellphones) -- He is reading texts exchanged by the couple on Jan. 28, 2022, hours before he was found dead.
Previously on the stand today: Daniel Whitley (Canton firefighter), Jean DeMulis (General Manager of C.F. McCarthy’s), Brigid Meehan (Owner of Waterfall Bar and Grill), Michael Camerano (friend of John O’Keefe)
Follow along with Ted Daniel’s live updates from court:
Highlights from Day 2 of the retrial:
John’s mother, Peggy O’Keefe, was called to the stand on Wednesday by special prosecutor Hank Brennan, marking the first time that she has spoken publicly since her son’s death.
O’Keefe did not testify in Read’s first trial and has never given any interviews. She was one of four people who took the stand for the prosecution on Day 2 of testimony.
O’Keefe described how Read spoke to her over the phone at Good Samaritan Hospital, where O’Keefe was pronounced deceased.
“As I’m walking down, I hear Karen Read yell, ‘Peg, is he dead? Is he dead, Peg?’ O’Keefe testified. ”I asked her what happened, and she said ‘I. We went to a party. I left him there.’ I said, ‘You just left him there.’ She said, ‘Yes’"
O’Keefe also told the court that Read and her father, William, showed up at their house later that day, asking to go upstairs for a few things. She said she should never have let them do that.
O’Keefe lost her daughter, Kristen, to a brain tumor in 2013, and Kristen’s husband, Stephen Furbush, died of a heart attack shortly thereafter. The pain of losing another child at a young age was devastating, she said.
“She had two children. And then two months after she passed, her husband passed from a heart attack. And then you all know about John,” Peggy O’Keefe said through tears.
She cried on the witness stand while relaying the story of seeing her son in the hospital after he was found lifeless in the snow.
“He was bruised up. His eyes were closed. Just not a good scene,” she said.
Kerry Roberts, a close friend of John O’Keefe, also returned to the stand on Wednesday. She told the court that before O’Keefe was found, Read asked her to look at her taillight.
“Karen pointed out and said, ‘Look, my taillight.’ And she said, ‘Do you think I hit him? And I said, ‘No, I don’t think you hit him,’” Roberts recounted.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson asked Roberts about her previous testimony to a grand jury,have heard where she claimed to hear Read ask Jennifer McCabe to Google “How long to die in cold?”
“The reason that you said that false statement was because someone told you to say it,” Jackson pried.
“I misunderstood Mr. Lally’s question,” Roberts replied.
Massachusetts State Police trooper Nicholas Guarino, who analyzed O’Keefe’s cellphone, and a Canton Firefighter Daniel Whitley, who responded to 34 Fairview Road in Canton, where O’Keefe’s body was found, also testified on Wednesday.
When leaving court earlier this week, Read expressed confidence in her team of lawyers to reporters.
“I feel great, today went well. We prepped hard, and I’m just proud of my team. I can’t be prouder, and we have the truth, so we forge ahead,” Read said.
Prosecutors allege Read intentionally backed into O’Keefe after she dropped him off at a house party and returned hours later to find him dead. The defense has claimed that she was a victim of a vast police conspiracy and that O’Keefe was fatally beaten by another law enforcement officer at the party.
A mistrial was declared last year after jurors said they were at an impasse and deliberating further would be futile.
The biggest difference in the current trial is the lead prosecutor, Brennan. Brought in as a special prosecutor after the mistrial, the former defense attorney has represented a number of prominent clients, including notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger.
Read has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death.
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