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DEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - Testimony resumed Thursday in the Karen Read murder trial, with parties returning to Norfolk Superior Court to continue hearing from first responders connected to the case.
Four days after testimony began on Monday, Canton Fire Department Lt. Anthony Flematti returned to the witness stand shortly after 9 a.m. Three other first responders followed Flematti on the stand before court adjourned for the day near 1 p.m.
Read, 44, of Mansfield, pleaded not guilty to several charges including second degree murder after prosecutors said she killed her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, by hitting him with her car during an argument and leaving him to die in a snowbank in January 2022.
O’Keefe, 46, was a Boston police officer.
Read’s attorneys have claimed O’Keefe was beaten inside the home where his body was found. The defense has said Read is being framed and has alleged a coverup involving multiple law enforcement agencies.
With Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally resuming questioning on Thursday, Flematti described the moment he arrived on scene in Canton. He said saw the “shape of a person” on the ground.
He said he asked Read if she knew anything about the body and said she screamed out a response.
“‘I hit him. I hit him. Oh my God, I hit him,’” Flematti said.
Flematti then asked a fellow firefighter to gather any information she could from Read and a friend who was also on site.
“She said ‘I hit him.’ She repeated it. There was a woman standing across from her who, I believe at that point said ‘You’re hysterical. You need to calm down,’” said Firefighter and Paramedic Katie McLaughlin in her own testimony.
Four witnesses, including a Canton police officer who pulled up to the scene and three Canton paramedic firefighters, have now told the jury they heard Read making statements like “I hit him.”
Asked if the firefighters are involved in a conspiracy with the police, Defense Attorney Alan Jackson responded outside the courthouse.
“I don’t use the word ‘conspiracy,’” he said. “I just know how memories are faulty and I know what the facts are.”
“Facts are facts. You can’t change the truth,” he continued. “And you can’t change the video.”
Dash cam footage shown in court is hard to see and hear, in part due to the snowstorm taking place when O’Keefe was found. But Jackson did his best to use the video to create doubt about what happened.
“Did you see any place in that video where you had any detailed conversation with my client?” Jackson asked Flematti during cross examination.
“No,” Flematti said.
Two other first responders, to date, have said they heard Read screaming, though they said they did not hear anything like “I did it.”
“It was just something like ‘He’s dead. He’s (expletive) dead,” said Canton Firefighter Matthew Kelly on Thursday.
After years of pretrial proceedings and controversy surrounding the case, jury selection got underway last week.
The prosecution and the defense delivered opening statements on Monday before the prosecution began calling witnesses.
Before Thursday, jurors had already heard from O’Keefe’s brother, Paul; Paul’s wife, Erin; and a series of first responders who described the scene immediately after O’Keefe’s body was found.
Approached while leaving the courthouse on Tuesday, Defense Attorney Alan Jackson said the defense team was “not concerned” about any of the prosecution’s witnesses to date.
“None of the Commonwealth’s witnesses are concerning us,” he said.
There were no trial proceedings on Wednesday due to a “court day” in Massachusetts where children participate in field trips to courthouses.
Read arrived in the courtroom in Dedham before testimony resumed Thursday. She was joined by her lawyers, family and supporters who were all dressed in pink. O’Keefe’s family soon filed in.
Jurors are scheduled to travel to Canton on Friday for a view of the crime scene. Read is not expected to attend.
When jurors return to Dedham, a 200-foot buffer zone is set to remain in place following a decision by the state Supreme Judicial Court.
Judge Beverly 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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