Prosecutors rested their case in Karen Read trial, and defense called witnesses, including plow driver and investigator - The Boston Globe (2024)

Jurors on Thursday heard angry voicemails that Read left O’Keefe after allegedly striking him with her vehicle. They also heard testimony from specialists with the medical examiner’s office who said O’Keefe’s injuries included a subarachnoid hemorrhage and contusions in the front of the brain that could have been caused by a vehicle strike, though the manner of death could not be determined.

Advertisem*nt

Read has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, manslaughter, and other charges.

Here’s how testimony unfolded on Friday.

3 p.m. — Richard Green, an investigator for Read’s legal team, continues his testimony

Green said after the sidebar that “100 percent” of McCabe’s calls were deleted between roughly 5:30 a.m. and 8:59 a.m. on Jan. 29. He didn’t specify the number of calls.

”Those would have been user-deleted,” Green said.

On cross-examination, Green told prosecutor Adam Lally that he knows Jessica Hyde and Ian Whiffin, digital forensic examiners who testified earlier that the “dying in the cold” searches were done shortly before 6:30 a.m.

Lally said they came to a different conclusion than Green, who replied “I absolutely understand that, sir.”

He said he reached out to Cellebrite, where Hyde and Whiffin work, to discuss his findings. Green told Lally the company did not refer him specifically to their team. He said he was not asked to look at Kerry Roberts’s phone. Roberts was with Read and McCabe when they discovered O’Keefe’s body.

Advertisem*nt

Green said he observed no GPS location data on Read’s phone.

”I did find deleted location data from April of 2022,” he said.

Asked if he found any deleted web history data from Read’s phone from the afternoon of Jan. 29, 2022, Green said he did not observe any and did not think he would have had “a cause to.”

Lally asked Green if the “hos long to die in cold” search was found in McCabe’s “wall file,” and he said that it was. He told Lally that in addition to the hypothermia search, he detected searches for a “raining men” song and for a youth sports program marked around the same time.

McCabe previously testified that she was making searches related to youth sports around 2:30 a.m., before she went to bed.

Lally asked if the URL field was updated in the “newest search” while the timestamp maintained the oldest search in the same browser tab.

Green said he did not believe that was possible. He said there was a “second search done” around 6:24 a.m. on dying in the cold, which McCabe said she made at Read’s request when Read saw O’Keefe’s body through heavy snow.

Asked if it was possible that the first search was also done around that time, Green said that conclusion was “inconsistent” with the other data on the device.

Green said he also took a drive with an iPhone 11, like the one O’Keefe had, to see if it would record steps.

”It did not,” Green said.

Lally also noted that a search for “how long to digest food” preceded the search for dying in the cold at 6:24 a.m., and he asked if that was a suggested search term from the device rather than McCabe’s actual search.

Advertisem*nt

Green said that it could have been the case.

He told Lally a phone takes GPS locations from “a variety of sources.” Lally asked if Green would agree that O’Keefe’s GPS native location data reported no movement of the phone after 12:25 a.m.

Green said he would have to view the data.

Green told Lally he couldn’t say specifically when the elevation levels changed on O’Keefe’s health data between 12:21 a.m. and 12:24 a.m.

Lally asked if he was aware that GPS native location data showed O’Keefe a half-mile away from Fairview Road during that period. Green said “a possible explanation” could be one of the three clocks used by iPhones was three minutes off.

”I think we need to consider the three minute offset,” Green said. Green stepped down just before 3:20 p.m. and Judge Beverly Cannone sent jurors home for the weekend.

”You will get this case next week for your deliberations,” Cannone said.

Prosecutors rested their case in Karen Read trial, and defense called witnesses, including plow driver and investigator - The Boston Globe (1)

2 p.m. — The next defense witness is Richard Green, an investigator for Read’s legal team

Green said he owns a digital investigations firm in Michigan and Florida. He’s the investigator who asserted that Jennifer McCabe did a Google search for “hos [sic] long to die in cold” at 2:27 a.m., hours before Read found O’Keefe’s body in the snow.

Prosecution experts have testified that the timestamp isn’t accurate and instead reflects when the tab was opened on her phone. McCabe has testified that she made the search at the scene at Read’s request around 6:30 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022.

Green said he received an associate’s degree in digital forensics and additional certification training in computer crimes and cybersecurity. He said his company handles between 100 and 120 cases annually.

Advertisem*nt

Green said he’s testified roughly 2,000 times in various state and federal courts.

In September 2022, Read attorney Elizabeth Little contacted him about the Read case, he said. She asked him to examine data from three cell phones involved in the case: Read’s, O’Keefe’s, and McCabe’s.

Green said he determined O’Keefe’s phone arrived at 34 Fairview at 12:24 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, based on the location data.

He identified a screen shot of his analysis aided by a tool called CellHawk.

The photo was placed on the monitor, and Green said CellHawk could not place the location of the phone within three feet of accuracy. A State Police official previously testified that investigators had pinpointed O’Keefe’s location on the lawn, and the corresponding location of his phone, within three feet.

Green said Apple Health data is “integral” to the iPhone system and “known to have extremely valuable data.”

He said Apple Health’s degree of accuracy for steps is known to be around 98 percent.

“That’s what studies have shown,” Green said.

A State Police witness previously said the data isn’t always accurate and that O’Keefe was riding in Read’s SUV about a half-mile from Fairview Road when the health data showed him ascending and descending steps.

Green identified Apple Health data from O’Keefe’s phone from Jan. 29, 2022.

Green said the data between 12:21 a.m. to 12:24 a.m. showed O’Keefe taking 80 steps during that period.

More health data records showed O’Keefe moving along “three sets of floors” starting at 12:22 a.m., he said.

Advertisem*nt

Green also identified a record from O’Keefe’s health data showing he took about 36 steps between 12:31 a.m. and 12:32 a.m.

He said he found “hos [sic] long to die in cold” searched on McCabe’s phone at 2:27 a.m. The search was first stored in a temporary “wall file” on the device.

Records indicated the search was “in a deleted state,” he said. He said the tab’s full Internet history couldn’t be recovered.

“One thing about deleted data, sometimes you get it all back, sometimes you don’t,” Green said.

Green said he believes the “hos long to die in cold” search happened “at or before” 2:27 a.m., based on “how this particular phone operates” and “comparing it to other data on that phone.”

”It’s all consistent with that search happening at or before that time,” Green said. He said the 2:27 a.m. search was in a “deleted state,” and he found other “user-deleted artifacts” from the predawn hours.

Green identified another report on McCabe’s cell data showing her call log with “a number of deleted items” on the morning of the Jan. 29 “and a number of live items.” He said there were “no additional deletions” after 8:59 a.m. on Jan. 29. Yannetti asked what percentage of McCabe’s calls before that time were deleted and Cannone called the lawyers back to sidebar.

12:50 p.m. — Specialist resumes testimony under cross-examination

Prosecutor Adam Lally asked Dr. Marie Russell, a retired emergency room physician in California, if she was familiar with a National Academy of Sciences report in 2008 dealing with forensic odontology, or the examination of dental evidence in crimes.

Lally asked if Russell was aware the study found that method for analyzing bites was not reliable.

Russell said it was her understanding the study said the method was not reliable for identifying the specific perpetrator of an injury.

“I did not read that report,” she said.

“Is it normal for any kind of animal attack” for injuries to occur on just one side of an arm and nowhere else, Lally asked.

“It can be, yes,” Russell said.

Russell said she observed no injuries that could have been a dog bite anywhere else on John O’Keefe’s body.

She said she could not identify what type of animal caused the injuries “with 100 percent certainty.”

Russell told Lally she believes the injuries were inflicted “minutes to hours” before death, but she could not identify the breed of dog involved.

“That’s true,” Russell said when Lally asked if she only reviewed photographs of O’Keefe’s body rather than his actual body.

Lally also asked if Russell knew swabs were taken from O’Keefe’s clothing that came back negative for canine DNA.

“That’s correct,” Russell said.

She told Lally she believes “both sets of teeth” made contact “with certain of those wounds” on O’Keefe’s arm.

Russell said she also reviewed the dog’s history of biting. A German shepherd mix named Chloe lived at the Fairview home at the time.

She said she can exclude other reasons for O’Keefe’s arm injuries to a reasonable degree of medical certainty.

“Those injuries do not look like blunt force injuries,” she said.

On redirect, She told Read lawyer Alan Jackson that dogs can inflict a wide variety of injuries on the skin.

“It depends a lot on the thickness of the skin, the movement of the victim and the animal,” Russell said.

Russell stepped down after a sidebar. Judge Beverly Cannone called a lunch break shortly before 1 p.m.

Prosecutors rested their case in Karen Read trial, and defense called witnesses, including plow driver and investigator - The Boston Globe (2)

12:20 p.m. — Retired emergency room physician continues her testimony

Dr. Marie Russell, a retired emergency room physician in California, said she also reviewed toxicological and neuropathology reports. She said she formed an opinion about O’Keefe’s injuries.

Russell identified a photo of O’Keefe’s injured right arm on the monitor.

”I believe that these injuries were sustained by an animal, possibly a large dog, because of the pattern of the injuries,” Russell said. “There’s a number of patterns here,” including “parallel lines” on the upper arm that could be “teeth or claw marks.”

Lawyers for Read have asserted that O’Keefe was not run over by Read’s SUV but was attacked inside the Fairview Road home, possibly by the family’s German shepherd.

Another set of parallel marks closer to the elbow “most likely” came from teeth, she said, noting “little round marks” on the arm that could be “inflicted by the point of the tooth.”

There are also “punctate, superficial round small abrasions” which in her opinion represent “upper and lower teeth,” she testified.

Russell said an animal’s top and bottom teeth could have inflicted the injuries.

Russell said the pattern of injuries on O’Keefe’s arm were consistent with those inflicted by a large dog.

She said “yes” when Read lawyer Alan Jackson asked if it was her opinion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the wounds were caused by a canine.

On cross-examination, Russell told prosecutor Adam Lally that she’s not certified in forensic science and last worked for the coroner’s office doing autopsies in the 1990s.

She told Lally that she reached out in May to a California prosecutor she had previously worked with and that person connected her to Read’s defense.

Russell told Lally she reviewed some of the files two days ago for the first time, since there were technical issues with them previously.

The doctor said she had read an article in the Boston Globe about the Read case, which prompted her to reach out to the California prosecutor. Russell said the May article was “the first time I paid attention” to the matter. She told Lally she hasn’t written a report on her findings since she wasn’t asked to.

11:45 a.m. — Dr. Marie Russell takes stand

The defense next called Russell, a retired emergency room physician in California, to the stand. She testified earlier this week out of view of the jury that the injuries on O’Keefe’s right arm appeared to come from an animal attack.

Russell, a trained pathologist, said her last position was chief medical executive at a state prison in California. She said she previously worked as a police officer in Malden from 1977 to 1984.

Russell said she did an emergency medicine residency in California at a large trauma center after completing medical school. She also became a fellow at the LA coroner’s office.

”I did autopsies every day,” she said. “One or two autopsies every day.”

Russell said she also served as an adjunct professor at California State University, Los Angeles, among other teaching and supervisory positions. She said she worked as an emergency physician for 29 years and would sometimes consult for the Los Angeles coroner’s office.

Russell said she published peer-reviewed articles on animal bites and scratches in the 1990s.

”I have a very strong interest in wounds in general and I have a strong interest in dog bites in particular,” Russell said, adding that she’s treated “well over 500″ patients with animal bites.

She said she reviewed the injuries on John O’Keefe’s right arm, including hospital records and photos, autopsy records and photos, grand jury testimony, and town of Canton dog bite reports.

The lawyers then went to a sidebar.

11:30 a.m. — Brian Loughran continues his testimony under cross-examination

Loughran said “no” when Read lawyer David Yannetti asked if police ever approached him in 2022.

It wasn’t until 2023, Loughran said, that State Police investigators Michael Proctor and Yuri Bukhenik reached out.

On cross-examination, Loughran told prosecutor Adam Lally his truck was initially in the middle of the road he was plowing.

He told Lally he met a defense investigator at a skating rink in February 2022 and told him he would have seen a body on the lawn or the sidewalk.

Lally said there’s no sidewalk on Fairview, and Loughran also said there’s no street lighting on the road.

Lally asked if Loughran initially told the investigator that the vehicle he saw in front of the street was “a small SUV.” Loughran said, “nope, told him it was a Ford Edge.”

Loughran said the investigator brought him out to the parking lot of the rink and showed him a Ford Edge, and he confirmed that was the type of vehicle he had seen.

Lally asked what color the Edge was and Loughran said he’s colorblind, but that the Edge appeared to be “light” in color.

Lally also asked how Loughran would know where O’Keefe’s body was found.

”The car was to the left of the door, putting it in front of the flagpole,” Loughran said.

”So how do you know where Mr. O’Keefe’s body was found?” Lally asked.

Loughran said through news reports.

”So this doesn’t come from your personal knowledge,” Lally said of the location.

“Correct,” Loughran said.

He said a subcontractor was also plowing the roads at the time.

Lally asked if Loughran in May 2023 had told authorities he went past Fairview around 12 a.m. and 2 a.m., and had come into work earlier than what he testified to Friday.

”Did you go down Fairview Road at 12 a.m. and 2 a.m.?” Lally asked.

“No,” Loughran said.

Lally asked if he previously indicated seeing the Edge at 1:30 a.m. or 2 a.m.

Loughran said he didn’t recall saying that and that it wasn’t accurate.

Lally asked if Loughran hit a basketball hoop on the night he was plowing, and he said yes and that he notified his supervisor.

Loughran said he didn’t recall what time he hit the hoop.

”You don’t recall anything specific about that time,” Lally said.

Loughran told Lally he met with Yannetti twice before testifying. The defense investigator was also present, he said, and he saw neither of them write anything down.

Lally asked if he’s correct in saying Loughran’s sure of all the times he was on Fairview Road but couldn’t say when he hit the hoop.

”I don’t recall exactly what time I hit that net,” Loughran said.

Yannetti asked on redirect if Loughran saw a black Lexus on Fairview around 5 a.m., as Lally had asked.

”I did not see a Lexus at 5 a.m.,” Loughran said.

Lally asked on recross if Loughran was on Fairview around 5 a.m., and he said that he was, but Lally noted that he testified having returned to Fairview about three hours after 3:30 a.m., which would put the time around 6:30 a.m. Loughran then stepped down from the stand.

Prosecutors rested their case in Karen Read trial, and defense called witnesses, including plow driver and investigator - The Boston Globe (3)

11:10 a.m. — Plow driver continues his testimony

Brian Loughran said the truck produces “an enormous amount” of light when he’s plowing, almost akin to driving with a “spotlight.

Loughran was driving his plow down Fairview Road early on Jan. 29, 2022.

He said he arrived on a street near Fairview around 2:35 a.m. He said he took a right onto Fairview and continued to plow.

Loughran said he knew the Albert residence from “growing up in Canton, I knew where they lived.”

As he passed the Albert home, he was plowing the middle of the road. He said his headlights were on when he was in front of the driveway and could see “the entire front lawn” around 2:45 a.m.

”A very large portion, almost to the front steps,” Loughran said when asked how much of the lawn he could see.

He said he focuses on what’s in front of him and to the side of him when he plows, to watch for pedestrians and animals.

”What, if anything, did you see on the front lawn in the area of the flagpole?” asked Read lawyer David Yannetti.

”I saw nothing,” Loughran said.

He said he continued driving down Fairview to the intersection with Chapman Street. He said he took a left onto Chapman Street, made a three-point turn and went back down Fairview “to the end.”

Loughran said he passed the Albert residence a second time with the “entire front lawn” illuminated by his headlights.

”Did you see a body?” Yannetti asked.

“No,” Loughran said.

He said he passed Fairview the first time around 2:45 a.m. and the second time around 3:15 a.m. to 3:30 a.m.

”At that point I saw a Ford Edge on the side of the road ... in front of the Alberts’ house” by the flagpole, Loughran said. “It just stuck out as weird.”

He said he was “being courteous to the Albert family” and did not report the Edge parked on the road in the blizzard.

Loughran said he saw nothing on the front lawn again. He said he returned to the street “about three hours” later to continue plowing, perhaps around 5:30 a.m.

”As I’m going up I am actually seeing first responders” and Fairview was “blocked at that point,” Loughran said.

11 a.m. — Read supporters gather outside the courthouse

The pink-clad crowd of Read supporters has grown as the trial moved along. On Friday, shortly after the prosecution rested its case, a few dozen people hunkered around phone screens, laptops, and speakers on both sides of High Street, just beyond the 200-foot buffer.

Sitting in folding chairs and finding shade under two portable canopies and a pink “Free Karen Read” umbrella, they listened raptly as the man Read aficionados have referred to as “Lucky” Loughran testified.

10:50 a.m. Plow driver called to the stand by defense

Read attorney David Yannetti called Brian Loughran to the stand. Loughran, of Canton, was driving a snow plow down Fairview Road early on Jan. 29, 2022.

He said he was familiar with the Albert family. Brian Albert lived at the Fairview Road home where O’Keefe’s body was found by the road.

”All of them,” Loughran said. “I was familiar with Brian. Chris Albert, Brendan Albert. Kevin Albert.”

He said he knew Chris Albert the best. He said they went to the same elementary school together and that he delivered pizzas for Chris Albert’s pizza parlor when he was in his 20s.

He said he was friendly with Kevin Albert, a Canton police detective, and described Brian Albert as “cordial, polite” whenever he saw him.

In January 2022, Loughran said, he was working for the town’s public works department and plowed snow for the town regularly.

On Jan. 28, he said, DPW workers were informed of a “potential blizzard” coming. Loughran said he was told to report to work by 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 29. He said he arrived at work around 2:15 a.m. and began preparing his truck for plowing.

His truck is called the “Frankentruck,” a reference to Frankenstein, since it has a lot of different parts, he said. Loughran said it takes about five minutes to get the truck ready. He said he plows alone.

Loughran said his seat was raised on the truck, which was also equipped with marking lights and plow lights.”It illuminates very well,” Loughran said, adding that he “can see a real long distance,” from inside the truck.

10:40 a.m. — Judge denies defense motion for directed acquittal

Read attorney Alan Jackson argued briefly for Judge Beverly Cannone to issue a verdict of not guilty on all charges after prosecutors rested their case.

”There has been no competent evidence presented ... that Karen Read’s vehicle” struck O’Keefe, Jackson said. “There is no competent medical evidence to support that theory.”

He said “the Commonwealth’s own medical examiner” does not see prototypical vehicle-strike injuries on O’Keefe and did not rule the manner of death a homicide.

”We don’t believe that any rational jury” would believe the State Police’s theory that O’Keefe was hit with Read’s vehicle, Jackson said.

Lally countered that the case does not “rest and fall” with the testimony of a State Police crash reconstructionist, as the defense claims. He noted that O’Keefe’s sneaker was found at the scene, as were pieces of a drinking glass from the bar he had gone to earlier that night and pieces of Read’s taillight in O’Keefe’s clothing. In addition, the taillight housing had O’Keefe’s DNA on it and a hair found on Read’s bumper was consistent with his DNA.

There were also witnesses who testified to hearing Read say repeatedly “I hit him” at the scene, among other pieces of evidence, such as GPS location data and data from Read’s SUV showing she went 24 miles per hour in reverse for about 60 feet in a straight line, striking O’Keefe. Cannone denied the defense motion for a directed verdict of not guilty, and the jurors were brought back in to begin hearing testimony from defense witnesses.

10 a.m. — Medical examiner continues her testimony

Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello said Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the case, provided her crime scene photos that showed no footprints in the snow on the front lawn of the Fairview Road home in the area where O’Keefe’s body was found.

Scordi-Bello said she testified to the grand jury that the bruising found on O’Keefe’s brain was likely due to a fall.

”It’s possible,” she said when asked if someone could get punched hard enough to lose consciousness and fall.

On redirect, prosecutor Adam Lally asked if O’Keefe had a minor abrasion to his right knee and she said, “correct ... it was on the side” of the knee.

She told Lally that O’Keefe’s facial injuries could also be caused by coming into any blunt object. She said glass or pieces of plastic could possibly be such blunt objects. She also testified that O’Keefe’s head injuries could be consistent with striking his head on concrete or frozen ground.

In cases of defensive wounds, she said she would expect to see “multiple bruising to the posterior aspects of the forearms,” as well as “cuts, lacerations depending on how the person might be defending themselves.”

It could also include bruising to the knuckles and broken fingers, Scordi-Bello said.

Scordi-Bello said O’Keefe’s head injuries were “consistent” with a fall.

”A single impact with a fall could cause all the injuries that were seen in the brain” and skull, Scordi-Bello said. She then stepped down.

The prosecution rested its case, and Judge Beverly Cannone called the lawyers to sidebar.

9:35 a.m. — Medical examiner testifies under cross-examination

Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello said she determined the cause of death was “due to blunt impact injuries of the head and hypothermia.”

Read attorney Elizabeth Little asked if blunt impact injuries can include a range of wounds and that many objects can be blunt objects.

“Correct,” Scordi-Bello said.

Little said O’Keefe did not have significant injuries from the neck down. Scordi-Bello said that was accurate, and that he also had no injuries to his torso, back, hips, pelvis, thighs, knees, shins, ankles, and feet.

”From the neck down he did not have a single broken bone aside from those” CPR-related injuries, Little said.

“Correct,” Scordi-Bello said.

Little asked if O’Keefe’s injuries were “inconsistent” with being struck by Read’s SUV at 24 miles per hour.

“I would say it’s likely and unlikely at the same time depending on the position of the body and the vehicle in question,” Scordi-Bello said.

Scordi-Bello said she didn’t know if O’Keefe’s arm injuries were inconsistent with being struck by a vehicle.

She told Little that less severe injuries on a victim can provide information about the circ*mstances surrounding a death.

Scordi-Bello also identified an autopsy photo of O’Keefe’s injured face.

”Those injuries don’t just manifest out of nowhere,” Little said.

“Absolutely,” Scordi-Bello said, adding that it’s a “possibility” such injuries could be caused by a punch.

Little asked if O’Keefe’s head injury was caused by some type of object or the ground, and Scordi-Bello said either was possible. It was “possible” that those objects could include a baseball bat or a barbell, she said.

Asked about the patterned cuts on O’Keefe’s arm, she said “correct” when Little said those injuries don’t look like road rash.

”I do not,” Scordi-Bello said when asked if she knew what caused O’Keefe’s arm injuries.

Scordi-Bello said one of the bruises on O’Keefe’s right hand could have potentially been linked to medical personnel running IV fluids.

Little asked if bruising to the back of hands is consistent with defensive wounds, and the doctor said that was accurate.

”Could be,” Scordi-Bello said. ”I can see how you would say four” bruises were on his right hand, Scordi-Bello said, adding that there was a “vague” bruise on his left hand, too.

She said O’Keefe had a laceration over his eye, multiple abrasions on his nose, a laceration to his tongue, contusions on the back of his right hand, and the contusion to his left hand.

”Are those injuries consistent with a physical altercation?” Little asked.

Prosecutors objected and the attorneys were called to a sidebar.

9:30 a.m. — Medical examiner continues her testimony

Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello said the bleeding was more prominent on the right side of O’Keefe’s scalp than the left.

She said “any blunt object” could have struck O’Keefe and caused his injuries. She said they “could be” consistent with a fall to the ground. She said “it’s possible” when asked if the wounds could be consistent with being hit by a car and that it was “possible” his arm injuries could have been caused by glass or metal.

”They’re not the classic pedestrian injuries that we observe, no,” she said.

She said “no” when Lally asked if every pedestrian’s injuries are the same after being hit by a car. It depends on a number of factors, including speed, whether the pedestrian’s standing still at the time of impact, and size and shape of the vehicle, among other factors, she said.

”When we have a potential vehicle [strike], clearly we look at the height,” she said. “In the majority, we see injuries to the legs from the bumper of the car. ... In Mr. O’Keefe I did not see any injuries in the lower extremities.”

She said she noted Read’s SUV was “a much bigger car” with a “much higher taillight” and bumper. Asked about O’Keefe’s skull fracture, she said “I would consider the amount of force to be significant, again without being able to quantify it.”

Prosecutors rested their case in Karen Read trial, and defense called witnesses, including plow driver and investigator - The Boston Globe (4)

9:10 a.m. — Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello, a medical examiner for the state’s medical examiner’s office, returned to the stand on Friday.

She said the medical examiner’s office is responsible for determining the cause and manner of deaths.

”When we accept a case into our office, we request police reports to explain and describe the circ*mstances of the death,” she said. In the Read case, she said she reached out to the State Police for additional information.

”When the case was presented to us, and after I did the autopsy, I did not have all the information I needed to certify” the manner of death, she said. She said she spoke with Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator, twice for additional information about the case.

Lally asked her if she felt “pressured or coerced” to come to a certain determination in her findings.

“No I did not,” she said.

Scordi-Bello identified photos of John O’Keefe’s body at the hospital and at the “time of autopsy.”

One photo was placed on the monitor, and she said that O’Keefe’s injuries included abrasions on his right arm and discoloration of the right eye, with blood dripping from a cut.

She identified a second photo of O’Keefe’s abrasions on his arm.

”You can see that they have some sort of pattern,” she said. She said the cuts on his arm were “superficial abrasions to the skin. They are not lethal. They’re not contributory to the cause of death.”

His head trauma and hypothermia caused his death, she said.

She said she did not know how the cuts on O’Keefe’s arm “came to be.”

She also identified bruising on O’Keefe’s right hand, as well as discoloration on his left eye in additional photos.

”You can see some discoloration of the nose,” too, she said, adding that there was “a linear abrasion” on his nose. She also identified a laceration to the back of O’Keefe’s head.

”It’s ragged,” she said, calling it a prototypical “blunt force injury.”

Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Sean Cotter can be reached at sean.cotter@globe.com. Follow him @cotterreporter.

Prosecutors rested their case in Karen Read trial, and defense called witnesses, including plow driver and investigator - The Boston Globe (2024)
Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Aracelis Kilback

Last Updated:

Views: 6390

Rating: 4.3 / 5 (44 voted)

Reviews: 91% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Aracelis Kilback

Birthday: 1994-11-22

Address: Apt. 895 30151 Green Plain, Lake Mariela, RI 98141

Phone: +5992291857476

Job: Legal Officer

Hobby: LARPing, role-playing games, Slacklining, Reading, Inline skating, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Dance

Introduction: My name is Aracelis Kilback, I am a nice, gentle, agreeable, joyous, attractive, combative, gifted person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.