DEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - Court is back in session Wednesday in the Karen Read murder retrial following an unexpected day off.
Victim Boston police officer John O’Keefe’s niece took the witness stand, detailing her memories from the morning of Jan. 29, 2022 — the morning her uncle was found dead.
She said she was awoken by a frantic Read, shaking and yelling for her. O’Keefe’s niece also said Read had her call O’Keefe on her phone.
O’Keefe’s niece also recounted Read and O’Keefe’s relationship, saying, “I could tell there was tension” and that “they were cold towards each other.”
O’Keefe’s niece testified “The defendant was asking ‘What could’ve happened? Could he have gotten hit by a plow?'”
She also testified “I remember after that, she said ‘Maybe I did something, maybe I hit him.'”
Read is accused of killing O’Keefe, her boyfriend, by hitting him with her SUV and leaving him to die in a snowbank. Her lawyers argue she is being framed in a police coverup.
Her first trial last year ended in a mistrial.
Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Zachary Clark also took the stand Wednesday. He was tasked with taking photos of Read’s SUV, but said now-fired Trooper Michael Proctor had access to the vehicle before he did.
Maureen Hartnett, a civilian scientist from the state police crime lab, also testified, saying she examined and swabbed Read’s Lexus at the Canton Police Department sally port.
She said she noticed damage to both the driver’s and passenger’s side and also found scratches and pieces of class on Read’s bumper. But on cross-examination, she was not able to draw a link to the damage that she witnessed on the car to the car to the cuts found on O’Keefe’s arm.
Hartnett also couldn’t pinpoint how long Read’s car had been damaged for.
“The dent, the scratches, the broken tail light could’ve existed before Jan. 29 of 2022, correct?” defense attorney David Yannetti asked.
“Yes, that’s correct,” Hartnett said.
Hartnett also said she tested the clothing that O’Keefe was wearing the morning he died. The stains that were on his clothing, she said, did test positive for blood.
However, the defense also brought up that there were some possible issues with the evidence collection in this case.
Hartnett also found another key piece of evidence.
“This is a close up photo of the apparent hair on the rear of the vehicle,” Hartnett said.
The state says DNA testing found that hair was a match to O’Keefe.
Prosecutors say Read backed into the off-duty Boston police officer with her SUV and left him to die.
The defense finds it difficult to believe that hair could stick to the bumper despite the fact that Read’s father had driven the SUV to his house in Dighton in a snow storm, and then it came back to the Canton police department on a flatbed with winds gusting over 30 miles per hour.
Court was canceled Tuesday an hour before testimony was scheduled to begin. The court said someone involved in the case had a health issue. Read said she was the one with the illness.
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