Following Judge Beverly Cannone dismissing the jurors in Karen Read’s trial for the day, defense attorney Robert Alessi argued new data evidence obtained by the prosecution would put the “entire defense” at risk.
Alessi pointed to the new report, presented by forensic data company Aperture, that he said came too late in the trial for it to be presented to the jury. The data is described as evidence of a variance between the internal clocks in Read’s Lexus SUV and John O’Keefe’s cell phone data.
“I don’t like to use hyperbolic words, but the word has been used against us - ambush, ambush, ambush,” Alessi said. “If there’s ever an example of an ambush, this is it.”
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan went on to argue that the Commonwealth only just received the information, and therefore is asking to include it in expert testimony.
Following the brief hearing, Cannone dismissed the attorneys without making a decision.
Defense attorney Robert Alessi concluded his cross-examination of Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello, a Commonwealth medical examiner, with special prosecutor Hank Brennan returning for re-direct questioning.
Brennan asked Scordi-Bello about her knowledge surrounding the investigation into John O’Keefe’s death before performing his autopsy.
“Did you learn that [Jennifer] McCabe reported later that [Karen Read], while speaking to first responders, reported that she had hit him?” Brennan asked.
“Yes,” Scordi-Bello said. “I was aware of that information.”
Following a short line of questioning, Scordi-Bello was dismissed from the stand and the jurors were sent home for the day.
Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello, a Commonwealth medical examiner, continued her testimony by confirming during cross-examination that she did not find any injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle while examining John O’Keefe’s body after his death.
“You did not include in your autopsy in any fashion, any discussion of whether Mr. O'Keefe's injuries were consistent with a motor vehicle accident, did you?” defense attorney Robert Alessi asked.
“I did not,” Scordi-Bello said.
“Did you evaluate it at all in your autopsy?” Alessi said. “Whether Mr. O’Keefe had any injuries consistent with a motor vehicle accident?”
“Yes, I did examine his lower extremities,” Scordi-Bello said. “That is protocol in any case of suspected impact with a motor vehicle. So I did examine his legs and I did not see any evidence of an impact site.”
O’Keefe’s manner of death was ultimately listed as undetermined after Scordi-Bello was unable to come to a homicide ruling based on available evidence at the time of the autopsy.
During re-direct examination conducted by prosecutor Hank Brennan, Scordi-Bello testified that the majority of pedestrian injuries involve an impact with the front of a vehicle.
"In your experience, are most pedestrian collisions where there's injuries to the lower legs either frontal or rear impacts?" Brennan asked.
"Most pedestrian fatalities that we see are with impact with the front of the vehicle," Scordi-Bello said.
"A bruise on the knee?" Brennan said. "Is that consistent with a sideswipe impact?"
"Could be," Scordi-Bello replied.
{{#rendered}}Following a lunch break, attorney Robert Alessi continued the defense team’s cross-examination of Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello, a Commonwealth medical examiner.
Scordi-Bello testified that during John O’Keefe’s autopsy, she discovered O’Keefe had suffered from pancreatic hemorrhaging before his death.
“At the grand jury, did you testify as follows: ‘If the injuries had been sustained in a different environment when the temperature wasn’t that low, then there might have been an alternative explanation for those gastric and pancreatic hemorrhages’?" Alessi asked. “Do you recall?”
“Yes,” Scordi-Bello said.
Alessi went on to press Scordi-Bello on the possibility that a CPR machine could have caused O'Keefe's hemorrhaging, with the medical examiner clarifying that the injuries would not have been as extensive. Alessi then pointed to the length of time O’Keefe was reportedly being subjected to the machine.
“Assume 37 minutes of a person hooked up to a LUCAS machine and assume 100 compressions per minute,” Alessi said. “That would result in 3,700 compressions from a LUCAS machine, correct?”
“Correct,” Scordi-Bello answered.
“Could 3,700 compressions from a LUCAS machine explain hemorrhaging in the pancreas?” Alessi asked.
“It could,” Scordi-Bello said.
“And that explanation could be why there’s hemorrhaging in the pancreas, as opposed to hypothermia causing hemorrhaging in the pancreas, correct?” Alessi said.
“It’s possible,” Scordi-Bello said.
On Thursday, Judge Beverly Cannone issued a ruling in Karen Read’s trial to lift the Buffer Zone outside of the Norfolk Superior Courthouse, effectively allowing demonstrations in the public areas outside the building.
“Quiet, offsite demonstrations on public property, in areas and at times that do not interfere with trial participants' entrance into or exit from the Courthouse, and that do not interfere with the orderly administration of justice, and that are not intended to influence any trial participants in the discharge of their duties are specifically outside the scope of the Buffer Zone restrictions,” Cannone wrote.
The decision has been celebrated as a Constitutional win by the Center for American Liberty.
“The First Amendment is back from vacation in Massachusetts,” Marc Randazza, the attorney representing the protesters, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “After treating courthouse sidewalks like North Korea with better landscaping, the First Circuit reminded everyone that free speech doesn’t take vacations just because one judge or police department is offended.”
Randazza pointed to Cannone’s decision to define the Buffer Zone to the parameters already determined by state law.
“This Buffer Zone was a euphemism for censorship,” Randazza said. “You don’t get to sanitize public spaces of uncomfortable opinions just because someone in a robe doesn't like what they hear on their way to work. This was never about ‘protecting justice.’ It’s about power being allergic to criticism.”
On Wednesday, John O’Keefe’s teenage niece took the witness stand to testify about Karen Read and O’Keefe’s rocky relationship in the months leading up to O’Keefe’s death.
She and her younger brother moved in with O’Keefe after their parents died within months of each other, making O’Keefe the primary caretaker of the children.
O’Keefe’s niece testified she was only 14 years old when her uncle “JJ” died, telling the jurors Read began staying at the family’s home more frequently as their relationship progressed, according to Boston.com.
The teen told jurors the pair’s relationship was “pretty good” and “lighthearted” when it began in 2020, but things began to fall apart toward the final months of 2021, the outlet reported.
She reportedly went on to recall an argument between Read and O’Keefe while the group was on a New Year’s Eve trip to Aruba in 2021, with Read accusing O’Keefe of cheating and yelling that he had “kissed someone else.”
Despite O’Keefe denying the allegation, the teen reportedly told jurors the fight continued as they traveled back home to Massachusetts.
The teen then recounted Read frantically waking her in the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2022, telling her O’Keefe had not returned home, Boston.com reported. The teen testified she texted O’Keefe before Read asked her to call Jennifer McCabe.
O’Keefe’s niece reportedly described overhearing Read “asking what could’ve happened,” “could I have done something?” and “could he have gotten hit by a plow?” over the course of several phone calls before leaving with McCabe and Kerry Roberts to search for O’Keefe.
Upon returning to O’Keefe’s home later in the day, Read reportedly told O’Keefe’s niece she “felt like she was living in a nightmare.”
During cross-examination conducted by defense attorney David Yanetti, the teen reportedly testified she never witnessed any physical violence between Read and O’Keefe, but told jurors the pair “seemed less happy to be around each other” in January 2022.
{{#rendered}}Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello, a Commonwealth medical examiner, was questioned by defense attorney Robert Alessi on the injuries found on John O’Keefe’s head and if they were consistent with the possibility O’Keefe fell in his final moments.
“Assume a fall backwards on a flat, frozen ground,” Alessi said. “Would such a fall and impact present the type of pattern [found on O’Keefe’s head], or would it present a circular pattern, perhaps with something like a starfish in the middle?”
“I can say that a fall backwards could very well produce that injury,” Scordi-Bello said.
Scordi-Bello went on to shatter Karen Read’s defense team’s theory that O’Keefe’s injuries would have been shaped differently had he fallen and hit his head.
“A fall backwards where the person impacts the back of their head on flat, frozen ground,” Alessi said. “Would you expect that type of a laceration from that type of a fall? Not just a general fall backwards, but specifically a fall backwards where the back of the head hits flat, frozen ground. Would you expect that?”
“I could,” Scordi-Bello said. “Yes.”
On cross-examination, defense attorney Robert Alessi questioned Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello, a Commonwealth medical examiner, about a photograph of two individuals present during John O’Keefe’s autopsy on Jan. 31, 2022. Scordi-Bello testified that she was unaware of the identities of the two men, despite protocol requiring visitors to sign in before viewing an autopsy.
Alessi then went on to grill Scordi-Bello on her determination that hypothermia contributed to O’Keefe’s cause of death while raising questions regarding her investigation.
“What alternative scenarios did you look at, if any, for the cause or manner of death of Mr. O’Keefe?” Alessi asked.
“At the time of the autopsy, I documented injuries and signs of hypothermia,” Scordi-Bello said. “At the end of my timeline, I concluded on cause but I did not conclude or determine a manner. The manner could be the circumstances. You are speaking about whether I considered other causes or circumstances - that’s not how it works. I don’t come up with hypothetical scenarios on how those injuries occur.”
Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello, a Commonwealth medical examiner, continued to answer questions from special prosecutor Hank Brennan regarding her autopsy of John O’Keefe.
Scordi-Bello went on to testify about the injuries she found on the back of O’Keefe’s head, telling the jurors she observed a laceration and compound injury while performing the autopsy.
“When you made your examination of the fractures in the skull, did that lead you to your opinion or was there more you needed to look at before you came to an opinion about the cause of death?” Brennan asked.
“When I did look at the brain, I noted that there were injuries,” Scordi-Bello said. “There was bleeding on top of the brain, and therefore I saved it.”
Scordi-Bello explained she sent O’Keefe’s brain to a Boston neuropathologist, a common practice.
During direct examination, Scordi-Bello testified she found O’Keefe’s cause of death to be “blunt impact injuries of [the] head and hypothermia.”
“In the absence of head trauma, hypothermia is the cause of death,” Scordi-Bello said. “But I was not able to make that determination in this case, because we do have the blunt impact injuries of head.”
Scordi-Bello went on to explain that she was unable to determine O’Keefe’s manner of death upon completion of the autopsy.
Following direct questioning by Brennan, defense attorney Robert Alessi began cross-examining Scordi-Bello.
{{#rendered}}Commonwealth medical examiner Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello testified during direct examination by special prosecutor Hank Brennan about her autopsy of Boston police officer John O’Keefe following his death on Jan. 29, 2022.
Scordi-Bello told the jury in Karen Read’s trial it is not uncommon for police to sit in on an autopsy as it is being conducted.
She then went on to walk through the autopsy report from her analysis of O’Keefe’s body, with Brennan showing a copy of the diagram to the courtroom.
“I observed on his right eyelid, a one centimeter laceration,” Scordi-Bello said, adding, “I also observed abrasions on the anterior and the left aspect of the nose.”
Brennan showed photographs of O’Keefe’s body to the jury as Scordi-Bello pointed out the injuries she found during her examination.
“On his upper right arm, I noted that he had a superficial abrasion,” Scordi-Bello said. “Then on his right posterior arm and forearm, there were multiple abrasions. Which I described as ranging from two to three millimeters and up to seven centimeters.”
Scrodi-Bello went on to describe additional abrasions - or scrapes - found on O’Keefe’s body.
“I noted that there were two bruises on the back of his right hand,” Scordi-Bello said. “Also a faint scratch on the back of his left hand, and then moving down to the lower extremities or on the legs, there was a small abrasion - a small scrape - on the side of his right knee.”
Scordi-Bello then testified she was unable to come to a conclusion regarding the cause of the scrapes and bruises found on O'Keefe's body.
Following testimony from forensic scientist Maureen Hartnett, the prosecution called Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello, a medical examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to the witness stand.
Massachusetts State Police forensic scientist Maureen Hartnett returned to the witness stand Thursday morning to face continued cross-examination from defense attorney Robert Alessi.
Hartnett testified she was unaware of the chain of custody surrounding the evidence collected from the crime scene at 34 Fairview before the items arrived at her lab, with Alessi pointing out debris found at the bottom of the bags.
“Did you find debris on [John O’Keefe’s] articles of clothing?” Alessi asked.
“Yes,” Hartnett said. “I took scrapings from each of these items of clothing and combined the debris.”
Alessi continued to question Hartnett on the method she used to gather the debris.
“Is it correct that you do not know where the debris came from specifically?” Alessi said. “Other than it came from one or both of these two items?”
“Yes,” Hartnett said. “That’s correct.”
Alessi noted the two items were packaged together in a brown paper bag upon arriving at the police lab, with the labels indicating the evidence had been collected by former investigator Michael Proctor,
Following a short line of cross-examination by Alessi, special prosecutor Hank Brennan began the state’s redirect questioning. Brennan pointed to Hartnett’s forensic testing of Karen Read’s taillight in the days after O’Keefe’s death, looking to discredit the defense’s theory that evidence may have been planted on the vehicle.
“When you look at an area like a taillight, if you found blood or cloth or another item in that area, would you know when it was placed in that area?” Alessi asked.
“I think there are really just too many variables to say either way,” Hartnett replied.
{{#rendered}}Judge Beverly Cannone called Court into session Thursday with Massachusetts State Police forensic scientist Maureen Hartnett returning to the witness stand for additional cross-examination in Karen Read’s trial.
Karen Read arrived at the Norfolk Superior Courthouse flanked by her defense team as testimony in her murder trial is set to resume.
Maureen Hartnett, a Massachusetts State Police forensic scientist, is expected to return to the stand to face continued cross-examination from Read's defense team.
On Wednesday, Maureen Hartnett of the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab testified she found broken glass, scratches and at least one dent on the back of Karen Read's vehicle, as well as blood and debris recovered from John O'Keefe's clothes.
She also swabbed the evidence that Canton Police collected in red Solo cups, although she testified that it had never been tested. As a result, she couldn't even identify it as blood.
Hartnett collected samples for additional testing but testified that she did not perform testing herself. That was someone else's responsibility.
She also testified she could not rule out that any of the damage to Read's SUV happened before Jan. 29, 2022, the morning O'Keefe died.
The red substance, described as "red-brown" by the time she saw it, was collected by Canton Police from the front lawn at 34 Fairview Road under a dusting of snow at the spot where investigators believed O'Keefe had been found.
"I think you test it anyway, even if there is no chain of custody, just to contextualize the case," said Paul Mauro, a retired NYPD investigator who is following the case. "If there was a fight inside the house, presumably O'Keefe would've fought back. If the blood in the snow came back to one of the Alberts or Higgins, if you're the defense, you're doing backflips."
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{{#rendered}}Karen Read’s trial is resuming Thursday morning with Massachusetts State Police forensic scientist Maureen Hartnett set to return to the witness stand for cross-examination.
Hartnett testified yesterday regarding her testing of DNA evidence from the crime scene at 34 Fairview Road, telling defense attorney Alan Jackson the blood samples collected in red Solo cups were never tested by the police lab.
Read is facing murder charges and the possibility of life in prison for the alleged killing of Boston police officer John O’Keefe. The prosecution, led by attorney Hank Brennan, alleges Read struck O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV in a drunken rage and left him to freeze to death in a blizzard. Read’s defense claims she never struck O’Keefe on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022.
Coverage for this event has ended.