The latest on the Karen Read murder case
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Karen Read murder trial: Jurors visit alleged crime scene, hear about blood alcohol test
The jury heard additional testimony Friday after visiting the Canton home where John O’Keefe was found unresponsive.
On the stand Friday:
Judge Beverly Cannone released jurors shortly before 1 p.m., bringing the first week of Read’s retrial to a close. Monday will be a half-day for jurors, as a voir dire hearing will be held to vet two crash reconstructionists from ARCCA Inc.
“As I understand it, folks, we’re on schedule,” Cannone told the jury. “Right where we thought we would be.”
1:30 p.m. update: Karen Read told paramedics she’d had an argument with John O’Keefe, firefighter says
En route to the hospital for a mental health evaluation, Karen Read told first responders she was upset because her last conversation with her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, had been an argument, Canton firefighter and paramedic Jason Becker testified.
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“I didn’t feel like it was my role to really find out the details on what was said,” Becker added.
First responders brought Read to Good Samaritan Medical Center for a psychiatric evaluation after she allegedly expressed suicidal thoughts upon discovering O’Keefe unresponsive in the snow early on Jan. 29, 2022. Becker, one of the paramedics who interacted with Read, described her as generally cooperative.
“We didn’t know circumstances. We just knew that Ms. Read had found her husband [sic] … dead on the side of the road. So it was a traumatic call,” he explained. Becker said Read was initially agitated, as she didn’t feel she needed to go to the hospital.
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“But then there would be periods when she’d be calm, and it would fluctuate,” he said. “She would have, like, pressured speech. Repetitive. But all in all, she was cooperative.”
On cross-examination, defense attorney Alan Jackson asked Becker if Read had told him her last words to O’Keefe were in voicemails. Becker testified that Read didn’t give him any details, and he didn’t ask her to specify her last words to O’Keefe.
Read left several angry voicemails for O’Keefe after dropping him off at a house party in Canton shortly after midnight on Jan. 29, 2022. Becker confirmed Read “tried to” show him her cellphone, and Jackson asked whether Read showed him missed calls to O’Keefe.
“I wasn’t going to look through her phone,” Becker replied. “I don’t know who she called.”
Answering questions from special prosecutor Hank Brennan, Becker said Read never indicated her last words to O’Keefe were actually in a voicemail. He said he remembered Read using the word “argument” but didn’t recall her mentioning voice messages.
12:15 p.m. update: Pathologist testifies about Karen Read’s blood alcohol test
Dr. Garrey Faller, a pathologist and former laboratory medical director at Good Samaritan Medical Center, briefed jurors on the testing protocols in effect when Karen Read had her blood alcohol level checked at the hospital the morning of Jan. 29, 2022.
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Faller, who has since parted ways with Good Samaritan, described his role as one of quality assurance and oversight.
“The laboratory medical director has to make sure that the final [test] result is of excellent quality,” Faller explained, adding, “Basically, the laboratory medical director, if something goes wrong, it’s ultimately his or her fault.”
He said Good Samaritan has “numerous” policies and protocols regarding how blood is collected and tested.
“One of the major things we need to do with taking somebody’s blood for alcohol [testing] is to obviously not use an alcohol swab,” Faller explained. “Normally when you have your blood test, they cleanse the area with a swab that contains alcohol. So in our policy, there’s a specific statement that says ‘do not use alcohol swab,’ because potentially, when you’re drawing the blood, if you suck up some of that residual alcohol, you could cause a false positive.”
He said that prior to January 2022, hospital leaders removed the vast majority of alcohol swabs from the emergency room to reduce the risk of a phlebotomist grabbing one by mistake.
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Read’s blood test, taken shortly after 9 a.m. on Jan. 29, registered an alcohol level of 93 mg/dl, Faller said.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Elizabeth Little noted Good Samaritan laboratory is a clinical lab, not a forensic one. Faller contended the methodology used in hospitals is “just as good as the forensic” methodology.
He explained the principles of chemistry at play in blood serum testing, adding, “It’s a very, very accurate test, but there are some limitations.” Faller named three of the most common factors that can interfere with laboratory tests: hemolysis, high bilirubin, and high lipids.
“Our machine … and all the machines out on the market today are very sophisticated,” Faller continued, explaining the machine will flag potential interferences with test results. Answering a later question from Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally, Faller said he didn’t see any such notices in Read’s record.
Faller testified to some of the other possible interferences, including a rare condition where the patient’s body produces alcohol internally. Further, he testified, “If a patient has a markedly elevated [lactate dehydrogenase] or lactic acid … that can cause false positives.”
Little confirmed anemia is one of the health conditions that can lead to a rise in serum LDH levels. She also asked about potential impacts from multiple sclerosis, a chronic autoimmune disease Read has.
“Looking at multiple sclerosis patients, they can have elevated LDH and lactic acid, but it’s not to the extent that it can interfere with the alcohol levels,” Faller testified.
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Little asked him if the lab took Read’s MS and anemia into consideration when conducting its testing.
“No, no we don’t,” he replied.
9:40 a.m. update: Jurors prepped to visit alleged crime scene
Judge Beverly Cannone walked jurors through the logistics of their field trip to view the alleged crime scene at 34 Fairview Road in Canton, allowing lawyers on both sides to address the jury briefly.
“The purpose of the view is to help you better understand the evidence which you’ll hear during the course of the trial, and to help you appreciate the location and its surroundings,” Cannone explained.
The lawyers and Cannone will accompany the jury during the view, and jurors are not permitted to take notes, snap photographs, or do any independent investigation.
“Your job is to simply stop and look,” Cannone added.
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan asked jurors to pay attention to the street and front yard, specifically noting the curb and the area of the lawn near the flagpole and fire hydrant. He acknowledged the conditions at the scene would be a far cry from what they were on Jan. 29, 2022.
“The weather will be very different. The temperature will be different. The conditions will be different,” Brennan said. “It won’t be the same visibility. It won’t be the same elements.”
Read’s Lexus SUV will be parked in front of the home, and Brennan told jurors the vehicle would look slightly different than in photos they’ve seen, as the passenger-side taillight has been removed. He asked jurors to take note of the height of the bumper and taillight, among other details.
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Defense attorney David Yannetti encouraged jurors to consider the distance between several landmarks at the scene, particularly the distance between the lawn and the home’s front doors, driveway, and second-floor windows. He suggested jurors may find the view “helpful, important, even necessary” as they weigh Read’s case.
“There is no substitute for your own two eyes,” Yannetti said, adding, “Your eyes are the best computer that you could bring to the view.”
Like Brennan, he encouraged jurors to stand next to the Lexus and size it up.
“You were all selected as jurors because the parties entrusted that you would do a proper investigation of this case within this courtroom,” Yannetti said. “On behalf of Ms. Read, we have every confidence that you will do a proper investigation.”
Livestream via NBC10 Boston.
Jurors in Karen Read’s second murder trial will visit Canton Friday to view the home where Read’s boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, was found unresponsive in the snow.
Read, 45, is accused of drunkenly and deliberately backing her SUV into O’Keefe while dropping him off at 34 Fairview Road for a house party early on Jan. 29, 2022. Her lawyers maintain she was framed in a vast coverup, suggesting O’Keefe was actually beaten inside the home.
More on Karen Read:
In requesting the view, Read’s lawyers asked for her SUV to be towed in front of 34 Fairview Road so jurors could assess whether O’Keefe’s injuries were consistent with having been struck by the Lexus. Additionally, they argued, “allowing the impaneled jury to view the crime scene located at 34 Fairview Road will be particularly useful, because the lawn appears to be much more expansive in photographs than it does in person.”
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The ongoing trial is Read’s second; her first murder trial ended in a mistrial last July after the jury returned deadlocked. Jurors in the first trial also visited Canton for a view, and lawyers on both sides were allowed to address them briefly on what they could expect to see.
Judge Beverly Cannone issued an order barring the media from filming or photographing jurors throughout the retrial, also requiring spectators and members of the press to stay 100 yards away from jurors during Friday’s view.
Jurors on Thursday heard some of Read’s final text messages with O’Keefe and listened to testimony from a friend who went out drinking with the couple on Jan. 28, 2022.
“Things haven’t been great between us for awhile,” O’Keefe messaged Read earlier that day as they argued over text. In another message, he told her he was “sick of always arguing and fighting.”
However, O’Keefe’s close friend, Michael Camerano, testified he saw no arguments or tension that night as they drank together at C.F. McCarthy’s in Canton.
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