Karen Read and her defense team exited Norfolk Superior Court after day 11 of testimony.Photo: Mike Macklin/WBZ NewsRadio
DEDHAM, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Tuesday was the 11th day of witness testimonies in the Karen Read murder trial at Norfolk Superior Court.
Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in January 2022 by hitting him with her SUV after drinking.
Read has pleaded not guilty to the charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of personal injury and death.
Her defense attorneys argue that she was set up by local law enforcement.
In the first week of testimony, Canton firefighter and paramedic Katie McLaughlin testified that Read said “I hit him” while on the scene of the Canton home where O’Keefe’s body was found. The home was owned at the time by retired Boston Police Officer Brian Albert.
In the second week of testimony, the prosecution called various witnesses who were at the bar where O'Keefe and Read were with friends hours before his death outside the Albert home.
The jury also heard from members of the Albert family, including Brian Albert, at the end of the week.
On Monday, the defense continued to cross-examine Albert, asking him about the nature of a late-night phone call to a friend and witness just before O'Keefe's body was found, why he sold his family home months after the incident, and why he initially told investigators that he didn't know Read.
Albert and two of his children all testified that neither Read nor O'Keefe were in their house on the night in question.
Read More: Second Week Of Karen Read Murder Trial Wraps Up
Testimonies continued on Tuesday with Caitlin Albert, Brian Albert's daughter, taking the stand again.
During cross-examination, Read's lawyers once again argued that McLaughlin perjured herself by saying she was only acquaintances with Caitlin Albert, who went to high school with her.
The defense hopes to use the Alberts' testimony to dispute the prosecution's claim that Read hit her boyfriend with her car that snowy night in January.
Caitlin said that she left the Albert house early in the morning on Jan. 29 — the morning O'Keefe's body was found — and was picked up by her boyfriend. She testified that she didn't see anything unusual on her parents' front lawn when she left.
Her boyfriend, Tristin Morris, then took to the stand. He also said he didn't see anything unusual on the lawn.
Read More: Karen Read Murder Trial Continues With Day 8 Of Testimony
Then, two friends of Brian Albert, Jr., testified. They were at the Alberts' home to celebrate Brian, Jr.,'s birthday on Jan. 28. The party lasted until the early hours of Jan. 29.
Sara Levinson testified that "everything was good [and] happy" that night at the party.
Another friend, Julianna Nagel, was called as a witness.
Nagel said that she saw an SUV that she did not recognize outside of the house. "Looking out the window, I did notice the SUV in front of the mailbox, and then pulled up a little bit in front of the yard and then stopped and then pulled up again towards the flagpole."
She added that she saw a "black blob" in the lawn near the flagpole, which is in front of the Alberts' house. She did admit she was drinking that night and could not identify what was in the snow, though she testified that was 5 or 6 feet long.
Read More: Karen Read Murder Trial Resumes With Day 7 Of Testimony
Nagel also said that she did not tell investigators about what she saw at the time.
She was asked by Read's lawyers during cross-examination, “When you’re leaving the property, after leaving the house at 1:45 a.m. and getting into the McCabe vehicle and passing the Albert lawn, you did not think that you saw a person who was in trouble, correct?”
She replied that she did not. The defense continued to push back on the assumption that what Nagel saw was O'Keefe's body.
"If she actually saw something that could potentially have been a body, then that would have been the most important evidence in this case. It's what they don't have, and it materializes in October of 2022, almost nine months after the fact. It's just crazy," David Yannetti, one of Read's defense lawyers, told WBZ NewsRadio on Tuesday.
Yannetti added that he thinks the witnesses are being coached.
WBZ NewsRadio's Mike Macklin reports.
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