5 things to know about the Karen Read trial 6 weeks into testimony

It has been six weeks since the opening of the Karen Read trial and so far jurors have learned about bloody snow collected in Solo cups, a late-night Google search for “hos long to die in cold” and flirty text messages between Read and a witness.

Jurors will need to weigh the competing theories of the case from Norfolk County prosecutors and Read’s defense team at the trial’s conclusion in the coming weeks.

The burden of proof rests on the prosecution to convince jurors that Read is responsible for the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe. They say Read drove intoxicated while dropping O’Keefe off at the Canton house party and struck him with her vehicle as she left, leaving him to die in the cold after midnight on Jan. 29, 2022.

Read’s attorneys say Read’s been “framed” for O’Keefe’s killing and that other people are responsible.

Here’s a look at some of the evidence presented and how the competing theories of the case have played out.

• Read more: Everyone you need to know to understand the Karen Read trial

Disagreement over Read saying ‘I hit him’

The opening weeks of the trial largely focused on testimony from Canton first responders — police, firefighters, paramedics. The most impactful statements some first responders testified hearing Read say at the scene were “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.”

Not all first responders said they heard these statements and Read’s defense attorneys often pointed out that the “I hit him” statements never appeared in the initial reports of the incident.

When Lt. Anthony Flematti of the Canton Fire Department testified that he heard Read say “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him” at the scene of O’Keefe’s body, her attorney, Alan Jackson, asked why the statements did not appear in his initial report.

Flematti testified that he’d told hospital staff that O’Keefe may have been hit by a car. Jackson, however, pointed out that he never told police during an interview days later.

The Canton firefighter said he told doctors and nurses at Good Samaritan Medical Center about the possibility that O’Keefe was struck by a vehicle, but none of the records at the hospital reflected those statements, according to Jackson.

The “I hit him” statements were also contested during testimony with Jennifer McCabe, a friend of O’Keefe who was at 34 Fairview Road the night before his death. Read also drove with McCabe and another woman, Kerry Roberts, when they found O’Keefe’s body at about 6 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022.

When an EMT asked Read for O’Keefe’s information, McCabe recalled what she heard.

“Three times,” McCabe testified. “‘I hit him. I hit him. I hit him.’ Earlier it was ‘Could I? Did I?’ This was crystal clear. ‘I hit him.’”

When McCabe went under cross-examination, Jackson attempted to cast doubt on what she’d previously said during questioning by the prosecution.

At no point did McCabe tell the Norfolk grand jury about the “I hit him” statements, according to Jackson.

There were a total of 12 statements that she told the grand jury she heard Read say that morning, but she did not include the “I hit him” statements.

A ‘soured’ relationship between Read and O’Keefe

Four weeks into the trial, jurors learned from witness testimony that the relationship between Read and O’Keefe hit a rough patch in the weeks before he died.

During opening statements, Norfolk prosecutor Adam Lally told jurors that the couple’s relationship “soured” and a witness named Laura Sullivan testified about an incident on a trip to Aruba in December 2021 that became an issue for the couple.

Read believed O’Keefe drunkenly kissed Sullivan in the hotel lobby (Sullivan said they hugged) and that it turned into a 20-minute screaming match in front of O’Keefe’s niece and nephew (he was their legal guardian).

On Tuesday last week, O’Keefe’s niece and nephew testified in court, but a judge’s order prevented their testimonies from being broadcast and barred the use of their names. Previously, Lally said he expected them to testify about the Aruba incident and the tumultuous relationship.

Jurors heard on the same day from Brian Higgins, a federal agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

He was at 34 Fairview Road the night before O’Keefe’s death and he testified that Read kissed him weeks before Jan. 29, 2022.

“You’re hot,” Read texted Higgins on Jan. 15, 2022, according to a transcript Higgins read in court.

For over an hour, Higgins read aloud during the trial text messages he exchanged with Read and jurors saw them on a large screen.

Read told Higgins she wasn’t sure if she was going to break up with O’Keefe, that he had “hooked up” with another girl on vacation, and that she and O’Keefe were having problems over the kids.

“It’s just a very very complicated dynamic with the four of us. He isn’t cut out for what he’s doing and the kids present constant issues … his heart isn’t in it,” Read texted. “I try very hard but they are very spoiled and they’re not my family. My parents keep telling me I’d feel different if they were mine or my own sister’s.”

Read kissed Higgins on Jan. 15, 2022, and O’Keefe later suspected they were having an affair after he saw them on his home security cameras leaving the house together.

Under cross-examination, Read’s lawyers pressed Higgins about why he went to the Canton police station after going to 34 Fairview Road in the early hours of Jan. 29, 2022, and about the destruction of his cell phone.

Missteps and ‘bias’ in the investigation

Among the more awkward moments during the trial came when Canton police discussed how they collected evidence at the scene of O’Keefe’s death.

Canton police Lt. Paul Gallagher testified that he used a snow blower to clear part of the scene after O’Keefe was taken to the hospital. He then used red Solo cups to scoop reddish snow from the front yard and placed the cups in a paper Stop & Shop bag.

“Do you think it’s standard practice for a police department to borrow red Solo cups from a neighbor to gather evidence?” Jackson asked.

“Of course not,” Gallagher said. “Nothing about this scene was standard.”

Last week, a Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab forensic scientist, Maureen Hartnett, said during testimony that DNA testing was not done on the swabs collected from the Solo cups.

Read’s attorneys have claimed the investigation into O’Keefe’s death was biased from the start since the brother of the homeowner (Brian Albert) is a Canton police officer (Kevin Albert).

“There was no conflict of interest, I said an appearance of conflict of interest,” Gallagher said when Jackson asked about the relationship between the Albert family and the Canton Police Department. “I honestly believe we could have investigated this case.”

Jackson asked whether Canton police ever attempted to collect evidence from inside the home, Gallagher said police did not have consent to search the home nor did they believe there was probable cause to seek a search warrant.

Another member of the state police, Lt. Kevin O’Hara, also testified Tuesday that members of the Special Emergency Response Team searched 34 Fairview Road starting at about 4:56 p.m.

The team used headlights from a trooper’s car, headlamps, shovels, garden rakes and a broom to move snow to search the property for evidence.

About six or seven pieces of taillight plastic and a Nike sneaker belonging to O’Keefe were found.

A snowstorm overnight from Jan. 28 into the evening of Jan. 29, 2022, complicated the scene.

Read’s defense: She was ‘framed’

The case has a devoted following from people claiming Read is innocent and supporting her attorneys’ arguments that she’s been framed. Every day members of the “Free Karen Read” movement gather outside the courthouse and viewership of live court testimony regularly climbs into the tens of thousands.

The defense will be allowed to explore their theory of the case more thoroughly once the defense rests.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the defense team’s cross-examination of witnesses.

Albert and Higgins were play fighting at the bar (seen on surveillance footage of the Waterfall Bar & Grille), playing into the defense’s theory that O’Keefe was involved in a fight that night.

Jackson compared extraction records from O’Keefe’s phone and McCabe’s phone and showed that six calls were missing from McCabe’s cell phone history. She called O’Keefe’s phone six times between 12:14 a.m. and 12:50 a.m. on Jan 29, 2022.

He raised these questions while insinuating that people generally call a phone numerous times when they are trying to find it.

Cell phone records also showed that McCabe made a Google search of “hos long to die in cold” at 2:27 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022. McCabe denied making the search at that time and said she searched at Read’s request later that morning after they found O’Keefe’s body.

“Ms. McCabe, you made that search at 2:27 a.m. because you knew that John O’Keefe was outside on your sister’s lawn dying in the cold, didn’t you?” Jackson asked.

“Absolutely not,” McCabe answered. “I did not make that search at that time, no.”

None of the several witnesses who left 34 Fairview Road testified to seeing a body on the front lawn as they left after 12:45 a.m. One witness, Julie Nagel, said she saw a “black blob” as she was driven away from the house but never told authorities.

During opening statements, the defense said they would call a Canton snow plow driver who will testify that he did not see O’Keefe’s body at 2:20 a.m. on the front lawn.

The defense also brought up phone calls between homeowner Brian Albert and Higgins at about 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022.

During cross-examination of witnesses, the defense has attempted to prove that witnesses coordinated their sides of the story starting in the early hours of Jan. 29, 2022.

During trial testimony, Albert said he “inadvertently” called Higgins at that time. “It’s kind of like a butt dial,” Albert said.

There was a second call, from Higgins to Albert, that lasted 22 seconds, Albert confirmed to Jackson after reviewing a call log. Albert, however, insisted he did not answer the call nor receive a voicemail.

Key witnesses yet to be called

The prosecution continued presenting its case on Monday with members of the Massachusetts State Police. Testimony will resume on Wednesday.

It’s unclear when the prosecution will rest its case. The trial was originally scheduled to last six to eight weeks, yet several witnesses on the prosecution’s list — including the lead detectives — have not yet been called.

Then the defense will have its turn to call witnesses and further their theory that other people are responsible for O’Keefe’s death.

Read pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence, and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash causing death.

While the defense has attempted to prove its claims that the investigation was “shoddy,” more is expected about why they claim Read’s been framed when they present their theory of the case.

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