Photo: Madison Rogers/WBZ NewsRadio
DEDHAM, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Karen Read murder trial resumed on Thursday in Norfolk Superior Court with the 13th day of testimony.
Karen Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, by hitting him with her SUV on Jan. 29, 2022. 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.
O’Keefe’s body was found outside of retired Boston Police Officer Brian Albert’s house on Fairview Street in Canton, Mass. Read’s defense attorneys Alan Jackson and David Yannetti have argued that a fight inside the house caused O’Keefe’s death.
Brian Albert’s nephew Colin Albert was the last witness on the stand on Wednesday. Colin Albert was 17 years old at the time of the incident and testified that Allison McCabe picked him up from the Fairview home around midnight.
Read More: Karen Read Murder Trial Resumes With Day 12 Of Testimony
During cross-examination on Thursday, the defense showed the jury two profanity-filled videos of Colin Albert in high school threatening student-athletes.
Jackson asked, “Were you threatening them with violence?” Colin Albert responded, “Kind of, yeah.”
Colin Albert also testified that he had never been in a fight and he did not see O’Keefe at the Fairview home that night. The defense argued to the judge that this was not just about Colin Albert.
“If they were doing their due diligence, they should’ve investigated every single person that was in that house and they didn’t. They did nothing to investigate whether or not there was someone in the house who tended to fight,” said Jackson.
Read’s lawyers also showed a picture of Colin Albert with busted-up knuckles, which were red and scabbed over. The picture was taken on Feb. 26, 2022, roughly one month after O’Keefe’s death.
Colin Albert maintained that he had never been in a fight in his life, other than with his brothers, and the hand injury resulted from slipping on ice while at a party.
The defense also focused on Colin Albert’s relationship to the lead investigator Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Procter, continuing their argument that it was a biased investigation. Colin Albert testified that he was the ring-bearer at Michael Procter’s sister Courtney’s wedding.
Further along in his testimony, prosecutors asked Colin Albert to expound upon when he started thinking about the case. He responded that he started thinking about it “a little over a year” ago, once his family started getting attacked on social media and having people show up on their doorsteps and sports games.
“We couldn’t leave the house without people taking pictures of us and it’s very terrible,” said Colin Albert.
Read’s defense attorneys had attempted to strike Allison McCabe’s testimony from Wednesday when she also detailed the harassment her family has faced due to the trial. Yannetti said that he had asked every witness when they first spoke with state police and that “none of that conversation had anything to do with harassment whatsoever.”
Prosecutor Adam Lally argued that Yannetti “absolutely opened the door” by asking why it took so long for McCabe to turn over text messages to police. Judge Beverly Cannone denied the request, saying she disagreed with the defense “in the strongest way possible.”
The second and final testimony of the day came from Matthew McCabe, Allison McCabe’s father and Jennifer McCabe’s husband.
Matthew McCabe testified that he arrived at Brian Albert’s house at around 12:20 A.M. and left around 1:45 A.M. When asked if he ever saw Colin Albert inside the house, he responded, “No, he was not.” He also testified that he did not see his daughter Allison McCabe or her car at the house.
Matthew McCabe also testified that he saw a dark-colored SUV outside of a home in Canton before O’Keefe’s body was discovered, which had moved “further up the road” by the third time he looked outside.
When testimony resumes on Friday, Matthew McCabe will return to the stand for cross-examination.
Outside the courtroom after court broke for the day, Read’s lawyers doubled down on their cross-examination of Colin Albert.
“The truth is ultimately going to come out. That’s the role of the court and that’s what happened today,” said Jackson.
WBZ NewsRadio's Madison Rogers (@MadisonWBZ) reports.
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