Crime

Karen Read trial witness lists: Who’s returning, who’s new, and who’s missing?

Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Karen Read case have submitted their witness lists. Here's who's on them.

Karen Read listens during closing arguments in her trial at Norfolk Superior Court on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, in Dedham. Nancy Lane / The Boston Herald via AP, Pool

By Abby Patkin

9 minutes to read

Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Karen Read murder case have submitted their lists of potential witnesses for her upcoming retrial, featuring a number of returning key players, as well as some new names. 

Jury selection is set to begin next week in Norfolk Superior Court, where Read has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence, and leaving the scene of a fatal accident in the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. Read’s lawyers maintain she was framed in a coverup, and her first trial ended in a hung jury last July. 

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See the full lists of potential witnesses below. If Boston.com has previously reported on a witness’s prior testimony or ties to the case, past coverage will be linked next to their name.

Click on a section below to jump to each list.

Prosecution:

Defense:

Prosecution’s witness list

Civilian witnesses

What to know: Kearney is new to the witness list, as is Wiweke-Bershneider, a college friend of Read’s who allegedly served as a go-between for Read and the Turtleboy blogger. Read’s father, William, and brother, Nathan, are also notable additions. So is Scanlon, a private investigator who told authorities he reached out to defense attorney David Yannetti in early 2022 to suggest O’Keefe had died after a beating, not a vehicle collision. 

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Missing from prosecutors’ list is Allison McCabe, who testified about giving Colin Albert a ride home on Jan. 29, 2022, and Karina and Nicholas Kolokithas, who testified Read and O’Keefe were affectionate and “lovey-dovey” before he died. 

Canton Fire Department

Law enforcement

  • Retired Sgt. Paul DiGiampietro, Canton Police Department 
  • Retired Lt. Paul Gallagher, Canton Police Department (Read his prior testimony)
  • Sgt. Sean Goode, Canton Police Department (Read his prior testimony)
  • Lt. Michael Lank, Canton Police Department (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of his prior testimony)
  • Officer Stephen Mullaney, Canton Police Department (Read his prior testimony)
  • Chief Helena Rafferty, Canton Police Department 
  • Lt. Charles Rae, Canton Police Department (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of his prior testimony) 
  • Officer Steven Saraf, Canton Police Department (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of his prior testimony)
  • Retired Officer Brian Wanless, Canton Police Department 
  • Sgt. Brian Gallerani, Needham Police Department (Read his prior testimony)
  • Trooper Evan Brent, Massachusetts State Police
  • Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik, Massachusetts State Police (Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of his prior testimony)  
  • Sgt. Zachary Clark, Massachusetts State Police
  • Trooper Nicholas Guarino, Massachusetts State Police (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of his prior testimony)
  • Lt. Kevin O’Hara, Massachusetts State Police (Read his prior testimony)
  • Trooper Joseph Paul, Massachusetts State Police (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of his prior testimony)
  • Former Trooper Michael Proctor, Massachusetts State Police (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of his prior testimony)
  • Lt. Brian Tully, Massachusetts State Police (Read his prior testimony)

What to know: A new addition to the list, Rafferty was not in charge of the Canton Police Department when O’Keefe died. Her predecessor, Kenneth Berkowitz, died late last year.

Notably, State Police recently fired Proctor in light of his conduct during the Read investigation, particularly his vulgar texts about the defendant. Tully and Bukhenik, two of Proctor’s superiors, were previously disciplined after internal probes determined they failed to reprimand Proctor for his texts.

Forensic laboratory witnesses

  • Christina Hanley, Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory (Read her prior testimony)
  • Maureen Hartnett, Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory (Read her prior testimony) 
  • Sophie Hryzan, Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory
  • Hannah Knowles, Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory
  • Andre Porto, Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory (Read his prior testimony)
  • Ashley Vallier, Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of Vallier’s prior testimony)

What to know: One notable absence is Nicholas Roberts, a former state forensic scientist who performed a retrograde analysis that purportedly put Read’s blood alcohol content between 0.135% and 0.292% around the time prosecutors allege she struck O’Keefe with her SUV. 

Experts

  • Shanon Burgess, Aperture LLC
  • Coleen Crawford, Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office
  • James W. Crosby, Canine Aggression Consulting LLC
  • Robert Gilman, New England Weather Science
  • Jessica Hyde, Hexordia LLC (Read her prior testimony)
  • Dr. Garrey Faller, Good Samaritan Hospital (Read his prior testimony)
  • Andrew Klane, Aperture LLC
  • Mike Merolli, Aperture LLC
  • Dr. Justin Rice, South Shore Hospital (Read his prior testimony)
  • Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello, Office of Chief Medical Examiner (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of her prior testimony)
  • Dr. Renee Stonebridge, Office of Chief Medical Examiner (Read her prior testimony)
  • Judson Welcher, Aperture LLC
  • Ian Whiffin, Cellebrite (Read his prior testimony)
  • Dr. Aizik L. Wolf, Miami Neuroscience Center

What to know: There are several new experts on prosecutors’ list this time around, including Crosby, Gilman, and Wolf. Prosecutors have also indicated they plan to bolster their theory of the alleged collision with help from experts at Aperture, a company that deals in accident reconstruction and biomechanics.

Defense attorneys

  • Alan Jackson
  • Elizabeth Little
  • David Yannetti

What to know: Prosecutors made the eyebrow-raising decision to list three of Read’s attorneys as potential witnesses because they say the lawyers may be needed to “authenticate” Read’s public statements.

Defense’s witness list

Read also reserves the right to call any witnesses included on the commonwealth’s witness list or witnesses necessary for rebuttal.

  • Brian Albert, Norwood, MA (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of his prior testimony)
  • Caitlin Albert, Easton, MA (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of her prior testimony)
  • Christopher Albert, Canton, MA (Read his prior testimony)
  • Colin Albert, Canton, MA (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of his prior testimony)
  • Julie Albert, Canton, MA (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of her prior testimony)
  • Kevin Albert, Canton, MA (Read about his connection to the case) 
  • Nicole Albert, Norwood, MA (Read her prior testimony)
  • Michael Wagner, Foxboro, MA
  • Sheryl Waugh, Canton, MA
  • Paul Mackowski, Melrose, MA (Read about his connection to the case)
  • Leslie Pearlstein, Canton, MA
  • Rebecca Baizen, Canton, MA
  • Officer Nicholas Barros, Dighton Police Department (Read his prior testimony)
  • Trooper Evan Brent, Massachusetts State Police
  • Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik, Massachusetts State Police (Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of his prior testimony)
  • Laurie Cahill, Worcester, MA
  • Trooper Zachary Clark, Massachusetts State Police 
  • Christopher Curran, Canton, MA
  • Kerri Curran, Canton, MA
  • Nicholas Curran, West Roxbury, MA
  • Richard D’Antuono, Canton, MA (Read his prior testimony)
  • Officer Kelly Dever, Boston Police Department
  • Stephanie Devlin, Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab 
  • Trooper David Dicicco, Massachusetts State Police (Read about his connection to the case)
  • Patrick Haggerty, Somerset, MA
  • Maureen Hartnett, Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab (Read her prior testimony) 
  • Brian Albert Jr., Boston, MA (Read his prior testimony)
  • Brian Higgins, Sandwich, MA (Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of his prior testimony)
  • Louis Jutras, Canton, MA (Read his prior testimony) 
  • Trooper Connor Keefe, Massachusetts State Police 
  • Matthew Kelly, Canton, MA (Read his prior testimony)
  • Karina Kolokithas, Canton, MA (Read her prior testimony)
  • Nicholas Kolokithas, Canton, MA (Read his prior testimony) 
  • Teri Kun, Davis, CA (Read her prior testimony)
  • Lt. Michael Lank, Canton Police Department (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of his prior testimony)
  • Brian Loughran, Canton, MA (Read his prior testimony)
  • Heather Maxon, Plainville, MA (Read her prior testimony)
  • Allison McCabe, Canton, MA (Read her prior testimony)
  • Jennifer McCabe, Canton, MA (Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of her prior testimony)
  • Matthew McCabe, Canton, MA (Read his prior testimony) 
  • Lance Mello, Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab
  • Ryan Nagel, Canton, MA (Read his prior testimony)
  • Steve Nelson, Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office 
  • Andre Porto, Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab (Read his prior testimony)
  • Hollie Price, Mountain View, CA
  • Trooper Kathleen Prince, Massachusetts State Police
  • Elizabeth Proctor, Canton, MA (Read more about her connection to the case)
  • Former Trooper Michael Proctor, Massachusetts State Police (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of his prior testimony)
  • Kerry Roberts, Canton, MA (Read her prior testimony)
  • Wendell Robery, Canton, MA
  • Steven Ridge, Boston Police Department
  • Heriberto Hernandez, Boston Police Department
  • Marc Lopilato, Canton, MA
  • Alfredo Lopilato, Canton, MA
  • Angela Malvone, Canton, MA
  • Lt. Brian Tully, Massachusetts State Police (Read his prior testimony)
  • Courtney Proctor, Canton, MA (Read more about her connection to the case)
  • Tristin Morris, Easton, MA (Read his prior testimony)
  • Jean DeMulis, Canton, MA
  • Mary Souza, Dighton, MA
  • Ashley Bell, Canton, MA
  • Mike Rushworth, Thompson Station, TN
  • Matthew Amory, Canton, MA
  • Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey (Read his prior statements about the case)
  • Thomas Beatty, Canton, MA
  • Erin Beatty, Canton, MA
  • Meghan Mariani, New York, NY
  • Thomas Martin, Weymouth, MA
  • John O’Keefe Sr., Braintree, MA
  • Lt. John Fanning, Massachusetts State Police (Read more about his connection to the case)
  • Matthew Kelsch, Federal Bureau of Investigations
  • Thomas Keleher, Canton, MA
  • Annie Cheung, Canton, MA
  • Chief Helena Rafferty, Canton Police Department
  • Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of her prior testimony)
  • Trooper Jeffrey Kostkowski, Massachusetts State Police
  • Trooper Joseph Paul, Massachusetts State Police (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of his prior testimony)
  • Retired Sgt Paul J. DiGiampietro, Canton Police Department
  • Retired Lt. Paul Gallagher, Canton Police Department (Read his prior testimony)

What to know: Notable additions include Fanning, whom the defense has previously accused of tampering with the jury in Read’s first trial. Prosecutors disputed those allegations and said Fanning, who was part of the team coordinating security at Norfolk Superior Court, had no contact with jurors. 

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Read’s team has once again named the Lopilatos as potential witnesses, though the brothers were not called to testify during the first trial. They were involved in a 2002 incident in which Canton Police Lt. Michael Lank — one of the first officers to interview some of the Alberts after O’Keefe died — allegedly intervened in a fight on Chris Albert’s behalf.

Experts

  • Chris Van Ee, Novi, MI
  • Richard Green, St. Pete Beach, FL (Read his prior testimony)
  • Daniel Wolfe, Penns Park, PA (Read his prior testimony)
  • Andrew Rentschler, Pittsburgh, PA (Read his prior testimony)
  • Maggie Gaffney, Bonita Springs, FL (Read about her connection to the case via The Boston Globe)
  • Derek Ellington, Wake Forest, NC
  • Michael Easter, Los Angeles, CA
  • Matthew Erickson, Gross Pointe Farms, MI 
  • Matthew DiSogra, Charlotte, NC
  • Dr. Elizabeth Laposata, Providence, RI 
  • Dr. Marie Russell, Los Angeles, CA (Read her prior testimony)
  • Garret Wing, Green Cove Springs, FL

What to know: Absent from the defense team’s witness list is Dr. Frank Sheridan, a retired forensic pathologist from California who previously testified that O’Keefe’s injuries could be consistent with a fight or physical altercation. However, Read’s team has added a number of new experts to the roster, including Laposata, a forensic pathologist from Rhode Island; Easter, a retired FBI agent; and Wing, a police dog handler and trainer.

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Abby Patkin

Staff Writer

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.

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