Things to know about retrial of Karen Read in killing of cop boyfriend

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The defense in Karen Read ‘s second murder trial continued to question their list of witnesses Monday, ranging from former police officers to a dog bite expert.

Read, 45, is accused of fatally striking her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, 46, with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow outside another officer’s home after dropping him off at a party in January 2022. Her lawyers say she was framed in a police conspiracy and that someone inside the house killed him.

A mistrial was declared last year. Read’s second trial for second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene outside Boston has so far followed similar contours to the first.

Testy exchange between the defence and a witness

Former Canton police officer Kelly Dever was working patrol the night O’Keefe died and was asked to take over dispatch. On Monday, Read’s defense team tapped Dever to testify about statements she had made about what she saw inside the sally port, a garage area attached to the Canton Police Department.

The exchange quickly turned tense as Read attorney Alan Jackson asked Dever if she wanted to be in court testifying. Dever responded that she had “no idea why I’m here,” and later made several comments about Read’s legal team mispronouncing her last name.

Dever said she could see the video feed inside the sally port garage while working dispatch, but when pressed about what she saw the day she ended up working late due to O’Keefe’s death, she said, “I’m telling you, I did not see anything.”

Read’s team has long argued that Read was framed and suggested that investigators planted evidence against their client, including possibly Read’s vehicle that was brought into the sally port garage.

Dever said that she told federal agents in August 2023 that she saw ATF agent Brian Higgins and former Canton Police Chief Kenneth Berkowitz inside the garage. While Dever said she made that comment “in good faith,” she told the jury that she later realized she couldn’t have seen them because the two went into the garage after she had finished her shift. Dever attributed the “false memory” to multiple media reports surrounding the case and said she retracted her statement.

Under cross-examination, Dever told the prosecution that she was confused why she was on the stand and said someone on Read’s legal team threatened to charge her with perjury for changing her testimony on who she saw in the sally port.

“They wanted me to say that statement, although I knew at that point it was not an accurate statement given the timeline,” she said.

More texts read to the jury

Jonathan Diamandis, a friend of Michael Proctor, the lead investigator of Read’s case, was asked by the defense team to read text messages that Proctor sent to friends about the investigation.

Proctor was fired in March after a disciplinary board found he sent sexist and crude text messages about Read to his family and colleagues. His testimony played a key role in the first trial. Defense attorneys used his text messages to attempt to show that Proctor was biased and ignored the possibility of other suspects.

According to the select texts that were allowed to be read in court, an unnamed person in Proctor’s group chat asked if the homeowner where O’Keefe’s body was found would face scrutiny. Proctor said “nope. Homeowner is a Boston cop too.”

Diamandis told the defense he was uncomfortable reading all of Proctor’s messages, leading to the defense team to say them aloud for the jury — which included coarse and vulgar descriptions of Read.

“From all accounts, he didn’t do anything wrong. She’s a whack-job,” one of the texts stated.

Defence tries to toss all Read’s charges, unsuccessfully

Before jurors entered the courtroom Friday, defense attorney Alan Jackson asked the judge to acquit Read of all charges. It’s a routine motion that’s nearly always denied, but offers hints at key themes for closing arguments.

“The commonwealth cannot and did not say or prove a collision at a particular time, a collision at a particular place, a collision with a particular person, or that a collision even occurred on January 29th, 2022,” Jackson said, calling the case a “vindictive prosecution” that “never should have been brought.”

Prosecutor Hank Brennan countered that the evidence of a collision was “overwhelming,” citing witnesses who testified Read admitted she hit O’Keefe, taillight fragments found in his clothing, and SUV data showing she reversed around the time he was allegedly struck.

Judge Beverly Cannone denied the request.