Karen Read‘s second trial in connection with the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, continued on Tuesday in Dedham’s Norfolk Superior Court before Judge Beverly Cannone.
Read more: Recap of trial day 9
Numerous witnesses testified on Tuesday, including a pair of Massachusetts State Police troopers and a meteorologist. The trial will continue Wednesday morning at 9 a.m.
People to know:
Robert Alessi, lawyer for ReadHank Brennan, special prosecutor for the Norfolk County District Attorney’s officePaul Gallagher, retired Canton Police lieutenantTrooper Nicholas Guarino, digital forensics expertAlan Jackson, lawyer for ReadLt. Kevin O’Hara, leads Massachusetts State Police Special Emergency Response Team, or SERT
3:27 p.m. – Jury sees taillight pieces in snow
Brennan used his redirect of O’Hara to show the jury several pieces of taillight in the snow on Fairview Road. O’Hara and his team found pieces of both clear and red taillight at the scene.
O’Hara said the team was having trouble properly moving snow off the grass, so they focused their search on the street area. He explained he was concerned about a plow moving the snow around.
One trooper found a piece of taillight as they shoveled into the snow, O’Hara said.
Jackson concluded his recross by asking O’Hara if he had any knowledge of when Read’s SUV arrived at Canton police. The SUV arrived before any taillight was recovered, Jackson said.
After O’Hara’s testimony, Cannone sent the jury home for the day. She said the case was on schedule or ahead of schedule.
3:04 p.m. – Jackson cross-examines O’Hara
Jackson began his cross-examination by asking O’Hara if the scene had been secured when he arrived. He said there was fresh, undisturbed snow, indicating that no one had tampered with the scene.
Read’s defense has suggested the taillight recovered by the SERT team was planted there by State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator.
O’Hara also confirmed the team had never conducted an evidence search in blizzard-like conditions prior to that January evening.
Jackson asked a series of questions about the five people O’Hara saw on scene who were not members of the team. They included three State Police troopers and two Canton Police officers.
O’Hara said they arrived at the scene after the team began its search, but he admitted he didn’t know if they had been there before.
At one point during his cross-examination, Jackson walked over to the defense table where he could be seen having a conversation with Read.
Jackson concluded his questioning by asking if O’Hara ever saw a photo of Read’s SUV after requesting one. He was told there wasn’t one.
2:27 p.m. – State police lieutenant describes search at 34 Fairview Road
O’Hara said Det. Lt. Brian Tully requested a search of 34 Fairview Road at 2:32 p.m. on Jan. 29, 2022.
Tully was the commander of the detective unit assigned to the district attorney’s office at the time.
Because of the snow, O’Hara said it took more than an hour for him and his team to begin heading to the home.
He arrived at 4:56 p.m. In all, seven members of the team, including O’Hara, responded.
The team did not have photos or a precise location to search but operated based on information provided by Tully. O’Hara said they searched from the front door to the flagpole and the fire hydrant on the left side of the property.
O’Hara and the six other troopers stood shoulder to shoulder, using shovels, garden rakes and head lamps to search. He said they were specifically focused on looking for O’Keefe’s missing sneaker and pieces of taillight.
The first piece of taillight was found at 5:45 p.m., he said. O’Keefe’s sneaker was found upside down, flush up against the curb, he said.
In all, the team found six or seven different pieces of taillight, O’Hara said. “A couple of the pieces” were found at ground level near the asphalt.
The team ended its search around 6:15 p.m., but didn’t “really touch the front yard area,” he said.
“As we started to move the snow, we couldn’t see or differentiate down to ground level,” O’Hara said, adding that the ground was frozen.
He told Tully he felt there was more evidence to be discovered at the scene.
2:05 p.m. – Canton lieutenant testifies about wellness check at O’Keefe’s home
Canton Police Lt. Charles Rae told the jury he was not part of the response to 34 Fairview Road on the morning of O’Keefe’s death, but did go to O’Keefe’s home for a well-being check.
He and a sergeant were there for about five minutes, he said. Brennan asked Rae if he had made any kind of note about the condition of Read’s SUV when he arrived just before 8:30 a.m.
Rae said he didn’t, but Brennan used his testimony as an opportunity to show the jury a close-up photo of the condition of the car at the time.
Read’s defense did not ask Rae any questions. Brennan called Kevin O’Hara, a Massachusetts State Police lieutenant. O’Hara leads the Special Emergency Response Team.
1:45 p.m. – Trial resumes
With the trial back from the lunch break, Alessi said he had no questions for Guarino. With Guarino off the stand, Brennan played a clip of an interview Read gave to “20/20.”
In it, she says O’Keefe “didn’t look mortally wounded as far as I could see.”
Brennan moved several exhibits into evidence, including text messages Jennifer McCabe read on the stand. He called Rae to the stand.
It appeared as though Rae was not in the courthouse, and Cannone could be seen having a conversation with a court officer. Brennan called O’Hara.
But Cannone asked to see the lawyers at sidebar before O’Hara made it to the stand. After the sidebar, Brennan called Rae again.
12:52 p.m. – Jury hears angry voicemails Read left for O’Keefe
Guarino has testified two previous times during the trial and Brennan said his testimony will conclude Tuesday.
Guarino is the Massachusetts State Police trooper who performed extractions of several cell phones in the case, including Read and O’Keefe’s as well as Jennifer McCabe’s. McCabe, who testified last week, was with Read when she found O’Keefe’s body.
The jury saw a PowerPoint presentation listing Read’s calls to O’Keefe. She made nearly 30 calls in a roughly 45-minute period between 12:33 a.m. and 1:18 a.m.
Read left a series of angry voicemails for O’Keefe. In one, she says “John, I [expletive] hate you.” In another, she says “John, I’m here with your [expletive] kids, nobody knows where the [expletive] you are, you [expletive] pervert.
At 1:10 a.m., Read leaves him a voicemail where she says, “it’s 1 in the morning, I’m with your niece and nephew you [expletive] pervert. you’re a [expletive] pervert.”
Seven minutes later, Read leaves another voicemail, where she says “John I’m going home you are [expletive] using me, you’re [expletive] another girl, you’re a [expletive] loser, [expletive] yourself.”
By 5:23 a.m., Read’s tone had changed. In a voicemail left then, she says, “John where the heck are you,” sounding panicked.
Guarino confirmed that Read connected to O’Keefe’s home WiFi at 12:36 a.m., and said the router could have a 150-foot indoor range or a range of up to 300 feet outside. He said a phone could auto-connect to WiFi when pulling into a driveway.
The final voicemail played for the jury was left at 6:03 a.m., by which point Read and two other women had arrived at 34 Fairview Road. In it, Read can be heard screaming frantically and Jennifer McCabe can be heard calling 911.
Brennan concluded his questioning there. Cannone called the lunch break before Alessi began his cross-examination.
12:26 p.m. – Meteorologist concludes testimony
Meteorologist Robert Gilman concluded his testimony by confirming that the lowest amount of snowfall was on the ground between 12 a.m. and 1 a.m.
On re-direct from Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally, Gilman said light can impact visibility, as can heavy snow during a storm.
12:08 p.m. – Alessi cross-examines meteorologist
Alessi’s cross-examination of meteorologist Robert Gilman began with a relatively granular breakdown of the snowfall totals hour by hour on Jan. 29, 2022.
By 1:45 a.m. on the 29th, Gilman agreed, there would be less than or equal to 0.8 inches of snow.
Between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., 0.7 inches accumulated, Gilman said. By 6 a.m., there were 3.9 inches on the ground, he confirmed.
Between 12 a.m. and noon that day, more than 12 inches fell in total, Gilman said.
“Is it correct to say that … the vast majority of that accumulation came well after 6 a.m.?” Alessi asked. Gilman said it was.
Alessi concluded his cross-examination there.
11:45 a.m. – Ground ‘impenetrable’ in January 2022, meteorologist says
Meteorologist Robert Gilman told the jury that January 2022 was an unusually cold month even for the coldest time of the year.
Gilman said he studied the temperature beginning on Jan. 26, which “establishes a period of seasonal freezing ground.”
“The ground was frozen and the surface was frozen,” he testified under direct examination from Lally, the lead prosecutor from Read’s first trial.
Gilman described the ground as “impenetrable” and said it would be impossible to dig at that time.
11:17 a.m. – Meteorologist takes the stand
Gilman said he’s been a meteorologist for over 45 years. For the Read case, he produced a “simple report” of the weather conditions leading up to Jan. 29, 2022, and a “more detailed report” for that morning, estimating the snowfall.
He said the storm met the criteria for a blizzard in Canton and described it as the biggest January storm in history.
Snowfall began late on Jan. 28, with just 0.2 inches falling that night. Light snowfall continued until around 5 a.m., when the intensity picked up.
By 6 a.m. on Jan. 29, nearly 4 inches of snow had come down, he said. Hours later, when the snowfall slowed, 22.5 inches had come down by 6 p.m. Just under 2 feet fell during the entire storm.
“Biggest snowstorm in January in our history,” he said.
10:59 a.m. – Brennan plays interview clips
With the jury back in the room, Brennan played two brief snippets of interviews Read gave for a docuseries aired on Investigation Discovery.
In one, Read says O’Keefe took her vodka soda with him when he exited her car at 34 Fairview Road on Jan. 29, 2022. In the other, she describes why she was yelling “did I hit him?” “could I have hit him?” at the scene.
When she got to the scene, O’Keefe was “in the vicinity of where I last saw him,” Read says in the clip. “I‘m thinking, Jesus, ‘was I starting to pull away? did I hit his foot? did I clip him somehow?’”
10:29 a.m. – Gallagher ends testimony
After sharp questioning from Jackson about the decision not to search 34 Fairview Road, Gallagher stepped off the stand.
During the re-cross, Gallagher said he would have had to “twist circumstances” to get a search warrant for the home.
“There’s still no evidence to go in the house,” Gallagher said.
But Jackson, his voice rising, noted that O’Keefe was found outside in the snow missing a shoe and with no winter coat on.
Still, Gallagher said, “No one could put him in the house.”
When Jackson concluded, Brennan asked Gallagher if he “ever learned one fact that would justify a search.” Gallagher said he hadn’t, over an objection from Jackson.
Brennan moved to play a clip with Gallagher off the stand, but Jackson asked for a sidebar and Cannone called the morning recess.
Retired Lt. Paul Gallagher, of the Canton Police Department, takes the stand during the Karen Read trial at Norfolk Superior Court, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Matt Stone/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)AP
10:19 a.m. – No probable cause to search 34 Fairview
On re-direct from Brennan, Gallagher said Canton Police did not have probable cause to obtain a search warrant for 34 Fairview Road on Jan. 29, 2022.
He explained that probable cause is “evidence a crime was committed.” Gallagher said there was no such evidence that morning.
“Were you doing any favors for anyone that morning?” Brennan asked.
Gallagher said he was not. Had there been probable cause, he would have searched the home, he said.
10:08 a.m. – Jackson concludes cross-examination
Gallagher faced a series of questions from Jackson about the storage of evidence in the case. During the cross-examination, jurors got to see several photos of the coagulated blood recovered from 34 Fairview Road in Solo cups.
The cups were stored in a Stop and Shop bag, and neither was sealed, Gallagher said. The blood was photographed near Read’s SUV, which Jackson described as a “recipe for contamination.”
But Gallagher said that wouldn’t be true in the hands of a trained criminalist.
Still, he conceded he didn’t have firsthand knowledge of how the blood was stored in between when it was recovered on Jan. 29 and when he turned it over to Massachusetts State Police on Feb. 1.
An evidence picture of red Solo cups used by the Canton police to collect blood evidence is displayed during the Karen Read trial, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Matt Stone /The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)AP
9:48 a.m. – Gallagher questioned about relationship with Brian Higgins
Jackson’s cross-examination moved on to Gallagher’s relationship with Brian Higgins, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who was inside 34 Fairview Road on the night of O’Keefe’s death.
Gallagher said he met Higgins in 2016 or 2017 when they worked on a wiretap investigation together. But he said he didn’t know Higgins had been inside the home the night of O’Keefe’s death until after Massachusetts State Police took over the case.
Higgins had an office inside the police station and a key card that let him into many areas of the station, including the sallyport where Read’s SUV was stored.
Jackson pressed Gallagher about whether the vehicle should have been photographed. Gallagher said it wasn’t his call.
When O’Keefe died, the investigation was turned over to Massachusetts State Police.
9:32 a.m. – Gallagher details investigation
Under cross-examination from Jackson, Gallagher confirmed that he never found O’Keefe’s hat or shoe at the scene, and, critically, never saw any pieces of cracked red taillight near his body. That’s despite blowing much of the snow away in a 50-square-foot area.
He also confirmed he never sought a search warrant for 34 Fairview Road and never walked into the home’s basement or garage.
The house “had nothing to do with the incident based on the evidence at that time,” Gallagher said.
But Jackson suggested the reason Gallagher and Canton Police didn’t seek a warrant is because they knew the home was owned by a police officer.
Gallagher rejected the idea, telling Jackson he has executed search warrants at police officer’s homes before.
Brian Albert, the homeowner, got no special treatment, Gallagher said.
Jackson also pressed Gallagher about whether he ever sought surveillance camera footage from Tom Keleher, the Canton Police Department’s deputy chief, who lives near 34 Fairview. Gallagher said he never did, because it wouldn’t have been relevant.
The camera only captures the front porch and lawn of Keleher’s home, Gallagher said.
9:07 a.m. – Court opens
Like most trial days, Tuesday began with a sidebar conversation without the jury present. The jury entered after the lengthy sidebar, at which point Cannone asked the panel if they had been able to follow her instructions about discussing the case and avoiding media coverage.
Each juror said they had.
Read, 45, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of O’Keefe, who was found outside the home of a fellow Boston police officer on Jan. 29, 2022.
Norfolk County prosecutors say Read struck O’Keefe with her SUV while driving intoxicated. Read’s attorneys say her car never struck O’Keefe and that others are to blame for his death.
