Karen Read disputes SUV data following forensic scientist testimony

Karen Read disputed data collected from her SUV the night John O’Keefe was killed after testimony from forensic scientists during Day 19 of witness testimony in her second murder trial.

Read, 45, of Mansfield, is accused of striking John O’Keefe, her Boston police officer boyfriend, with her Lexus SUV and leaving him to die alone in a blizzard outside of a house party in Canton at the home of fellow officer Brian Albert following a night of drinking.

Texas-based Shanon Burgess, of the accident reconstruction, biomechanics and digital forensics company Aperture LLC, returned to stand Tuesday morning for another round of intense questioning.

Burgress’ timeline of events surrounding John O’Keefe’s death are crucial to the prosecution’s case.

Burgess said Read’s Lexus recorded two “trigger events”– around the time she’s accused of striking O’Keefe.

One was a 3-point turn; the other one is associated with Read driving in reverse.

He testified that Read reversed her Lexus outside Fairview Road at 12:31 a.m. seconds before O’Keefe’s final interaction with his cell phone.

Outside court, Read said Burgess’ analysis was wrong.

“John’s phone is still moving,” Read said. “He’s still walking after the trigger, common trigger on my Lexus.”

Special Prosecutor Hank Brennan played an interview Read gave where she spoke about that time frame.

“I think he died right around 12:25, 12:30,” Read remarks in the video clip.

Robert Alessi peppered Burgess about his methodology and conclusions.

" None of the information in that black box that you referred to on your direct testimony indicates that there was a collision on January 29th," Alessi asked.

“It does not by itself. Not by itself. Correct,” Burgess said.

“A text stream trigger event does not mean that there was a collision, correct?” Alessi also asked.

“Correct,” Burgess responded.

The defense accused Burgess of shifting his findings in a new report to match the prosecution’s timeline and inflating his educational background on his LinkedIn page

Burgess offered nearly six more hours of testimony before Christina Hanley, a forensic scientist at the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab, took the stand.

She is expected to resume her testimony on Wednesday.

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