BOSTON (WHDH) - Defendant Karen Read will be on trial for second degree murder in just over two months, and the defense wants Richard Green to testify about a key piece of evidence.
That piece of evidence is a Google search, specifically, the timing of a Google search that witness Jennifer McCabe made in Canton the night that Boston police officer John O’Keefe was found dead.
She typed “Hos long to die in cold.”
Prosecutors say that search happened after 6 a.m., after O’Keefe’s body was found by Read, McCabe, and another woman.
But defense expert Richard Green says there’s cellphone data showing it happened hours earlier, before the body was discovered, suggesting there was some sort of cover up involving McCabe or her brother, a Boston police officer who owned the home where O’Keefe died.
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan says he improperly suggests the Google search was deleted to cover up wrongdoing.
“Think about the import of these baseless claim by Mr. Green,” said Brennan. “It is suggesting that a witness with no other evidence whatsoever was in a conspiracy to murder somebody.”
The state wants the judge to call a special hearing so she can scrutinize Green and perhaps exclude him.
“At every turn, his opinions are unsupported,” said Brennan. “He’s a vessel for the defense.”
But Read’s lawyers say Green is a qualified expert who knows how to analyze cellphone data.
They say the state doesn’t like his opinion on when the Google search was made and whether a search record was deleted.
Judge Beverly Cannone, who let Green testify in the first trial, will take some time to consider whether she needs to hear from him again before deciding if he will testify this spring.
“I will let you know no later than Monday,” said Cannone.
Karen Reed’s lawyers are expected to file a motion to dismiss this case even before the second trial begins.
The judge said on Friday there will be a hearing on that in mid February.
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