Karen Read trial witness says defense tried to get her to lie; Michael Proctor's friend reads text messages
The Karen Read trial resumed on Monday as her defense team continued calling witnesses after the prosecution rested its case last week.
A friend of former Massachusetts State Police trooper Michael Proctor was the first witness called to the stand. He read text messages the fired investigator sent about Read. His testimony was followed by a former Canton police officer who accused the defense of trying to get her to lie on the stand.
Court ended for the day with Dr. Marie Russell, a dog bite expert, still on the stand for cross-examination. She will return on Tuesday morning when court resumes.
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan rested his case on Thursday. Defense attorney Alan Jackson called his first witness Friday in an attempt to convince jurors that Read should not be found guilty of hitting and killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, with her SUV after a night of heavy drinking and leaving him to die in the snow outside a Canton home in 2022.
Read told reporters previously her defense team expects to call witnesses for one-and-a-half to two weeks, compared to two days during her first trial. In 2024, Read stood trial but a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.
The 45-year-old has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of personal injury and death.
Was John O'Keefe bitten by a dog?
After the morning recess, the defense called Russell, a retired doctor from California who testified during Read's first trial that injuries on O'Keefe's arm were consistent with dog bites.
The prosecution unsuccessfully attempted before the trial to exclude Russell's testimony, arguing that she was not qualified to weigh in on the injuries.
Defense attorneys have said that Chloe, the family dog inside Brian Albert's home, could have attacked O'Keefe.
Russell said she saw about Read's case while reading a news article, and contacted someone at the Los Angeles District Attorney's office because she found the question of whether O'Keefe was hit by a vehicle or attacked by a dog interesting.
"In my mind I went through other possible things or causes of wounds on an arm, what they would look like, the patterns, etc. Then I figured out why these other potential causes of wounds in an arm did not fit this case," Russell said.
Russell said she looked at photos from the hospital, photos from the medical examiner's office, medical records, the autopsy report, Massachusetts State Police reports, and photographs of O'Keefe's clothing.
Defense attorney Bob Alessi asked Russell what conclusion she came to.
"Those wounds were inflicted as a result of a dog attack," Russell said.
Russell said that the injuries on O'Keefe's arm are in groupings that she believes were caused by the dog's teeth and claws.
Russell said she did not view O'Keefe's arm herself to consider the injuries, but told Alessi in her field it is a generally accepted practice to assess injuries based on photographs.
Russell looked at photographs of O'Keefe's clothing that he was wearing when he died. On one sleeve, there are several holes in the fabric.
"I believe that this hole was made by a canine tooth with the tooth going into the shirt, reaching the skin and then coming out of the shirt, pulling some fabric with it," she said of one of the holes.
Dr. Marie Russell cross-examined
Brennan took over cross-examination around 3:10 p.m. He asked Russell if prior to Read's case if she had ever testified in any courtroom as a dog bite expert. Russell said she had not.
The prosecutor asked Russell if she reached out to someone at the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office regarding Read's case because she knew they would have contact with someone on Read's team. She said yes. Alan Jackson previously was a prosecutor in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
"You wanted to get involved in this high-profile case, didn't you?" Brennan asked. Russell said no, adding that she wanted to help.
Brennan noted that after testifying previously in Read's trial, Russell added a photograph of herself on the stand to her website in an effort to advertise her services.
"You did use your participation as a way to garner future interest in future cases?" Brennan asked.
"I did. But I did not mention this case," Russell said, answering another question from Brennan by confirming that she has not testified in any other trials after Read's first trial as a dog bite expert.
Brennan attempted to call Russell's qualifications as a dog bite expert into question.
"You do not have experience over your long, accomplished career in the effort of pattern recognition analysis of dog bite wounds. Isn't that fair to say?" Brennan asked.
"OK," Russell answered.
Brennan pointed out that Russell relied on the medical examiner's report of O'Keefe's arm injuries, which described them as "superficial" abrasions about 3 centimeters deep.
The prosecutor also noted that the medical examiner testified that the wounds "did not have any depth or any puncture."
He asked Russell if it's fair to say that her testimony has changed over time. "I don't believe that's fair to say," she replied.
Russell said that when she first testified she believed it was an animal attack injury, either a bite or a scratch. She said that the more she has reviewed Read's case, the more certain she has become that it was a dog bite and scratch.
Defense witness says "I don't know why I'm here"
Earlier, Jackson called Kelly Dever a former Canton police officer who now works with the Boston Police Department.
Dever was interviewed last year as part of the federal investigation into the case, which jurors are not allowed to know specifically about. Dever said her memory of the night of O'Keefe's death is limited, and some of what she recalls comes from media coverage.
Jackson was attempting to ask Dever about cameras in the Canton Police Department garage. She said she could not recall.
"Ms. Dever, do you want to be here today?" Jackson asked. "I have no relation to this case," Dever responded.
"I didn't ask you that. I asked if you want to be here today," Jackson said, prompting the judge to tell the defense attorney to limit comments and only ask questions.
"Do you want to be here today, ma'am?" Jackson asked.
"I am put on the stand in a murder trial. I don't know why I'm here. I have no connection to this case," Dever said.
Alan Jackson clashes with Kelly Dever
Jackson asked Dever if she told the outside law enforcement agency that she saw Brian Higgins, who the defense alleges is one of the men who could have killed O'Keefe, alone with Read's SUV alongside former Canton Police Chief Ken Berkowitz, who died in December. The defense has also tried to show in the past that Berkowitz could have planted taillight evidence.
"That was my recollection at the time," Dever said.
Dever said that she later learned that was not the case and it would not be possible because of the time the SUV was towed to the garage.
"We've discussed this previously. I can't make this statement on the stand, because I've been provided information released by the defense that it was not a memory, it was a distorted memory, therefore I can't state it because at this point it would be a lie," Dever said. "I cannot make that statement that you're wanting me to make on the stand, because I've advised that that would be a lie."
"Ms. Dever, I've never asked you to make a statement one way or another on the stand. I'm asking you an open-ended question. Did you observe something in the sallyport garage on January 29, 2022 that you found unusual that stuck out in your mind?" Jackson responded.
"Given factual information that makes it so I know I did not, no," Dever said.
Dever said under questioning from Brennan that prior to Read's first trial, a male member of the defense contacted her.
"They were looking for me to say I saw Higgins and Berkowitz in the garage with the car," Dever said. "They became very aggressive, raised their voices. The one word I can very definitely remember is they said they would charge me with perjury."
Jackson returned to again question Dever, noting that it is not attorneys who charge witnesses with perjury.
"The fact of the matter is nobody every threatened you with perjury, did they?" Jackson said.
"Oh they did, yes. I contacted the FBI regarding it," Dever said.
Outside court on Monday, Karen Read told reporters, "We just wanted her to repeat what she told other law enforcement agencies under penalty of perjury."
Michael Proctor's text messages
Monday morning before the jury was brought in, Judge Beverly Cannone ruled largely in favor of the defense following arguments about Proctor's text messages.
Proctor testified during the first trial after being called by the prosecution. He was forced to read messages he sent to friends, family and colleagues about Read. During his testimony, Proctor called the messages "regrettable."
The prosecution had tried to prevent the witnesses from testifying during the second trial, saying the defense should have to call Proctor himself. Cannone ruled Monday that Proctor's friends could read the messages. She did rule that some would be redacted.
The first witness called was Jonathan Diamandis, a longtime friend of Proctor who received some of the messages. David Yannetti was the defense attorney questioning Diamandis to authenticate the messages. Brennan then took over and had Diamandis read the messages.
Proctor has been referred to throughout the trial as a former Massachusetts State Police trooper. On Monday, Brennan for the first time referenced Proctor's firing.
"Did you know that Mr. Proctor was fired by the Massachusetts State Police because of his inappropriate comment?" Brennan asked, prompting to a defense objection and sidebar. When attorneys returned, Brennan rephrased the question to ask the witness knew Proctor had been fired, and if he told him why.
"It was in connection with this case. I believe it was based on his text messages that were sent to us," Diamandis said.
When they got to one series of messages, Diamandis was asked to read a series of messages and said, "These are not my words. I'm not really comfortable reading these. Do I have to say these words out loud?"
After a sidebar, Brennan was allowed to read the messages to the witness, and ask him if they were accurate.
On January 29, 2022, Proctor sent to the group text around 11 p.m., "From all accounts [O'Keefe] didn't do a thing wrong. She's a whackjob [expletive]."
After being asked by a friend if Read was "hot," Proctor said "Yeah. She's a babe. Weird Fall River accent though. No [expletive]."
On redirect, Yannetti attempted to show jurors that the information Proctor was sharing was not yet public. Before Diamandis stepped down, Brennan again tried to highlight that Proctor was not fired for any allegations of framing Read or tampering with evidence.
"I'm not sure that it was quite as sort of like substantial a piece of information as it was in trial number one," WBZ legal analyst Katherine Loftus said about Proctor's text messages.
Karen Read trial latest
Jackson's first witness when the defense got the case was Matthew DiSogra, a digital forensics expert who specializes in car data and crash reconstruction.
DiSogra testified that O'Keefe's phone was locked after Read's SUV reversed outside 34 Fairview Road in Canton, which the defense says shows he was not hit by the vehicle. The prosecution previously attempted to show that O'Keefe's phone never moved again after Read's vehicle moved in reverse.
On cross-examination, Brennan highlighted that DiSogra did not do any testing in the case.
Full days of testimony are scheduled every day this week except Wednesday, which is scheduled to be a half day. Court typically starts at 9 a.m. and lasts until about 4 p.m. each day.
