DEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - The Karen Read murder retrial resumed Friday after a day off due to the heat.
Read arrived at Norfolk Superior Court with a camera crew in tow. The defense is making a final push, as they could wrap up their case next week.
ARCCA accident reconstruction expert Daniel Wolfe took the witness stand. He conducted a series of tests to determined whether the damage to Read’s tail light could have been caused by a collision with Boston police officer John O’Keefe’s arm, as the prosecution’s accident reconstruction expert claims.
Read is accused of killing O’Keefe, her boyfriend, by backing into him with her car after a night of drinking and leaving him to die in the snow in January 2022. Read’s defense argues she is being framed in a police coverup.
The first trial ended in a hung jury.
Wolfe walked the jury through a series of pictures and videos taken during his testing. He wanted to see how a crash test dummy reacted when struck by tail light at different speeds, and whether he could recreate the damage seen to Read’s own tail light and O’Keefe’s arm and clothing.
“From my perspective, I was interested in the speed and the force to look at what’s the observed damage to the test tail lights that we did,” Wolfe said.
“Do you think that is fundamental to an accident reconstruction?” asked defense attorney Alan Jackson.
“Yes,” Wolfe said.
“Did Dr. Welcher engage in any force analysis with regard to John O’Keefe’s arm and the tail light?” Jackson asked.
“Not that I’m aware of, no,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe told the jury, often over objections, the testing done by the prosecution’s expert, Judson Welcher, was limited.
Welcher used grease paint, showing the arm of a pedestrian could align with with the right rear taillight of the Lexus, but that’s about it. ARCCA went further, Wolfe claims.
“Let’s get beyond simple geometry and aligning things,” Wolfe said. “What happens to the arm, right? What are the accelerations? What’s the damage?”
A drone video showed the Lexus traveling in reverse at 24 miles an hour toward a crash test dummy with its right arm extended.
Red pieces of taillight go flying, but Wolfe noted no significant damage to internal components of the light in the test vehicle. He says there was internal damage to Read’s light.
“Based on the test results, it’s inconsistent with striking an arm,” Wolfe said.
On Wednesday, a Canton snow plow driver testified that he did not see a body on the lawn of 34 Fairview Road the morning O’Keefe was found dead.
The prosecution grilled him about his memory, citing different statements he gave over the years.
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