CANTON, Mass. — All 18 jurors in Karen Read’s retrial toured the scene of John O’Keefe’s death and got an up-close look at the murder defendant’s Lexus SUV during a field trip to Canton on Friday morning.
Read is accused of striking O’Keefe, her Boston police officer boyfriend, with her SUV and leaving him to die alone in a blizzard outside of a house party at the home of fellow officer Brian Albert following a night of drinking. She has been charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence, and leaving the scene.
After Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone dismissed the jury early on Day 3 of testimony on Thursday over “confusion” with witnesses, jurors got to step out of the Dedham courtroom and were transported by coach bus to 34 Fairview Road to see where O’Keefe’s body was found and his proximity to the street and the home.
Read’s SUV was towed to the scene, where crews positioned the vehicle near a flagpole where O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022.
See photos from Friday’s jury view:
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Read, her attorneys, members of the prosecution, and Cannone joined the jurors on the tour.
Cannone forbade the jurors from photographing the scene and said note-taking wasn’t allowed, asking them to “carefully remember” what they saw.
“The observations that you make there can be used and considered by you in your deliberations on this case in reaching a verdict,” Cannone explained in her instructions.
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan and defense attorney David Yannetti asked jurors to carefully examine Albert’s former home, the flagpole on the lawn, a fire hydrant out front, and the location of Read’s SUV.
“Your eyes are the best computer that you can bring to the view,” Yannetti told the jury.
Jurors were also informed that they are not allowed to return to 34 Fairview Road to conduct an independent investigation.
The fourth day of testimony resumed after the view, with Brennan calling pathologist Gary Faller and Canton Fire Department EMT Jason Becker to the stand.
Faller, former lab director at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, explained to jurors the process of testing someone’s blood for alcohol.
Becker testified about his interaction with Read at the scene of O’Keefe’s death, telling the jury that Read was upset that her last conversation with O’Keefe was an argument.
Becker said he didn’t ask Read what her last words to O’Keefe were.
“I didn’t feel like it was my role to really find out the details on what was said. But that’s what she said to me,” Becker told the court.
Becker also said that Read “tried to” show him a bunch of missed calls to John Keefe on her phone at the scene.
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.
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.
Monday will mark the fifth day of witness testimony in the retrial, but jurors won’t sit for a full day because a voir dire of ARCCA experts is also scheduled.
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