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Dedham, MA — The retrial of Karen Read for the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police officer John O’Keefe, took a significant turn Friday as the defense began presenting its case. This marks a pivotal moment in the case, which ended in a hung jury during the first trial. Read’s legal team has promised a more comprehensive defense this time around, with more witnesses and a deeper dive into their theory of the case.
O’Keefe’s body was discovered in the snow outside a Canton home in January 2022. Prosecutors allege Read struck O’Keefe with her vehicle after a night of drinking.
The defense, however, maintains Read has been framed, pointing fingers at other off-duty officers present at the scene. Read has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter, and leaving the scene of a fatal collision.
The defense’s first witness, accident reconstruction expert Matthew DiSogra, testified about O’Keefe’s phone records. DiSogra suggested O’Keefe manually locked his phone after Read’s vehicle had stopped, contradicting the prosecution’s timeline of events. The prosecution contends O’Keefe’s phone was locked at the moment of impact.
The trial is scheduled to resume Monday, with speculation mounting as to whether Read will testify. She did not take the stand in the previous trial.
However, the jury has already heard from Read through numerous video clips presented by the prosecution, taken from interviews she gave to reporters and documentary filmmakers. In one such clip from the Investigation Discovery documentary “A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read,” Read stated, “This is my version of testifying.
Doing this film is my testimony. I want to say what happened, exactly as it happened.”
Another clip played by the prosecution showed Read recounting a conversation with her attorney, where she questioned if she could have accidentally injured O’Keefe. Her attorney’s response, “Then you have some element of culpability,” formed a dramatic close to the prosecution’s case.
The prosecution rested its case Thursday after calling 38 witnesses over 20 days, presenting forensic evidence and testimony from O’Keefe’s family and friends, as well as law enforcement. Noticeably absent from the prosecution’s witness list was former State Trooper Michael Proctor, who led the initial investigation but was later discharged for inappropriate text messages he sent about Read.
While Proctor testified in the first trial, his absence this time around underscores the defense’s previous arguments of a biased investigation. Proctor is on the defense’s witness list, leaving open the possibility of his return to the stand.