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DEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - Testimony resumed in the closely-watched Karen Read murder trial Friday afternoon after jurors visited the spot in Canton where the body of Boston police officer John O’Keefe was found in a snowbank in 2022.
Before the visit, jurors heard additional testimony from Canton Paramedic and Firefighter Katie McLaughlin, who first took the stand Thursday afternoon.
Jurors and lawyers returned to Norfolk Superior Court near 12:45 p.m. and began hearing from Gregory Woodbury, a Canton Fire Department lieutenant. The prosecution also called firefighters Daniel Whitley and Jason Becker to testify before court adjourned for the day Friday.
Read, 44, of Mansfield, pleaded not guilty to several charges including second degree murder after prosecutors said she killed O’Keefe, her then-boyfriend, by hitting him with her car during an argument and leaving him to die.
Read’s attorneys have claimed O’Keefe was beaten inside a home near the spot where his body was found. The defense has said Read is being framed and has alleged a coverup involving multiple law enforcement agencies.
On Friday, as the jury traveled to the site where O’Keefe’s body was found, the trial’s 17 jurors saw Karen Read’s Lexus parked nearby. The car’s broken tail light was visible, as was its center console.
Prosecutor Adam Lally spoke to jurors about the car before they headed out.
“I’m going to ask you to take note of, sort of, the center console in the front driver’s compartment of that vehicle and anything that you observe in that location,” Lally said.
Defense Attorney Alan Jackson also spoke.
“What we’re going to ask you to do is take special note of the relationships of physical items out of the scene,” he said.
Firefighter’s testimony centers on alleged comments at crime scene
McLaughlin was the fourth witness to testify on Thursday, following three other first responders.
Much of McLaughlin’s testimony centered on what Read allegedly said at the scene. On cross examination Friday morning, the defense tried poking holes in her memory, saying her story has changed.
“You told Trooper [Michael] Procter Karen Read looked at a female standing to your left and said ‘I hit him. I hit him. I hit him. I hit him.’ Right?” Jackson asked.
McLaughlin responded — “Yes.”
“Yesterday you told these jurors that Karen Read said ‘I hit him’ and an officer said ‘You what?’ And she repeated ‘I hit him.’ And the officer immediately turned and went to find another sergeant. Is that right, or no? Yes or no?” Jackson said.
“No, there was more to that testimony,” McLaughlin said.
Other firefighters on the stand testified to Read’s mental state, with one saying she made suicidal comments while emergency responders were on scene. The witness said Read was taken to a hospital for an evaluation.
Judge, lawyers travel with jurors to Canton
Read arrived early Friday morning and was in the courtroom with her three lawyers moments after 9 a.m. Read’s parents and other family members were seated behind her. O’Keefe’s parents and other family members were also in attendance.
Proceedings got underway near 9:10 a.m. and the defense finished McLaughlin’s cross examination near 10:45 a.m.
Read did not attend Friday’s site visit in Canton. Speaking after McLaughlin left the stand, Judge Beverly Cannone said she and the lawyers in this case would travel with the jury on a bus. Cannone told jurors to not take notes or take photographs, saying jurors should do no investigating of their own.
While the trial continues, a 200-foot buffer zone is set to remain in place following a decision by the state Supreme Judicial Court.
Cannone previously ordered the buffer zone to keep demonstrators away from the courthouse. A single Supreme Judicial Court judge upheld the order, prompting an appeal from protesters. In a new ruling dated Thursday, the full court said “the trial judge struck a balance between the right to protest or demonstrate and the defendant’s right to a fair trial.”
“The single justice did not commit an error of law or abuse his discretion in denying the petitions,” the court continued.
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