Crime
Defense dog bite expert Dr. Marie Russell entered the courthouse with Read’s lawyers Monday morning, though it was not immediately clear when she’s expected to testify.
Livestream via NBC10 Boston.
On the stand:
Jonathan Diamandis, Milton, MA
9:10 a.m. update: Judge allows Michael Proctor’s texts in through childhood friend
Karen Read’s lawyers will be permitted to introduce former Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor’s vulgar texts without calling him as a witness, Judge Beverly Cannone ruled Monday.
Proctor, who led the investigation into the death of Read’s boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, rose to infamy over his handling of the case and his vulgar texts about Read. The defense had asked to introduce the texts through one of their recipients, Proctor’s childhood friend Jonathan Diamandis. Prosecutors objected, pushing for Read’s lawyers to call Proctor to the stand.
“I do find that they’re properly authenticated, and I find that they come in, as they go to the state of mind of Trooper Proctor, specifically as that goes to potentially reflecting any bias or omissions in the police investigation,” Cannone said Monday morning.
She ordered some limited redactions and said she will give jurors an instruction when the texts come into evidence.
With that, Cannone called the jury into the courtroom.
Karen Read’s murder retrial enters its seventh week of testimony Monday as the defense continues to make its case for Read’s innocence.
Jurors Friday heard from the first defense witness, vehicle data expert Matthew DiSogra from DELTA |v|. Throughout nearly a full day of testimony, DiSogra offered an alternate view on the data pulled from Read’s Lexus SUV following the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe.
Prosecutors allege Read, 45, backed her SUV into O’Keefe in a drunken rage while dropping him off at an afterparty in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022. Yet Read’s lawyers are seeking to pin the blame on someone else, floating an alternate theory that O’Keefe was beaten by fellow afterparty guests and attacked by the homeowner’s dog after entering 34 Fairview Road. They contend Read was framed in a law enforcement conspiracy to protect the family and friends of the homeowner Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer.
Defense dog bite expert Dr. Marie Russell entered the courthouse with Read’s lawyers Monday morning, though it was not immediately clear when she’s expected to testify. Russell has testified that wounds on O’Keefe’s arm were “inflicted by a dog attack,” rather than a collision with Read’s SUV.
However, prosecution accident reconstructionist and biomechanic engineer Judson Welcher testified last week that damage to Read’s SUV was consistent with a collision with O’Keefe around 12:32 a.m. on Jan. 29, just as prosecutors allege. Welcher also told jurors O’Keefe’s injuries were consistent with being struck by a Lexus identical to Read’s SUV “and ultimately contacting a hard surface, such as frozen ground.”
According to Welcher, the “Techstream” data from Read’s SUV indicates she accelerated in reverse around the same time she’s alleged to have struck O’Keefe. At bat for the defense, DiSogra testified that neither of the two “Techstream” events Read’s SUV recorded after midnight on the 29th were triggered by a collision. That’s consistent with Welcher’s testimony that the “Techstream” system is triggered by factors such as excessive acceleration, steering, or braking, and not necessarily collisions.
“Are you offering that Ms. Read’s Lexus never got into a collision before Jan. 29, 2022, or on that day?” special prosecutor Hank Brennan asked as he cross-examined DiSogra.
“No,” DiSogra confirmed.
“You are not suggesting to this jury that Ms. Read’s Lexus did not ever get into a collision?” Brennan pressed in a subsequent question.
“No,” DiSogra answered.
The brunt of DiSogra’s testimony focused on the clock variance between Read’s SUV and O’Keefe’s cellphone, specifically looking at whether the last activity on O’Keefe’s phone matches up with the backing trigger Read’s SUV recorded after midnight on the 29th.
After he finished his testimony, Judge Beverly Cannone sent jurors home for the weekend and heard arguments over whether the defense should be allowed to introduce former Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor’s crass texts without calling him as a witness. The lead investigator into O’Keefe’s death, Proctor sent vulgar messages about Read to family, friends, and coworkers, casting a pall over the case and ultimately contributing to his firing.
Read’s lawyers are seeking to enter the messages through some of their recipients, including Proctor’s childhood friend Jonathan Diamandis. Brennan argued defense attorneys should call Proctor to the stand if they want to probe his texts.
“If there is an investigator in a case that makes derogatory remarks about an accused, I can’t say that doesn’t go to bias, nor do I reject the idea that it shows an unfairness or a motivation,” Brennan acknowledged. “But really, you need to put that in context.”
He added: “To explore the state of mind and put it in context, you need to ask the person that you’re accusing of having the bias.”
But defense attorney David Yannetti suggested prosecutors only wanted to see the defense “call a witness that they do not have confidence in to call themselves.”
“We should not be forced to call Michael Proctor so that Mr. Brennan can then cross-examine him and lead him through basically his entire closing argument,” Yannetti stated. Cannone did not immediately issue a ruling on the defense request Friday.
The ongoing trial is Read’s second; her first trial ended in a mistrial last summer after jurors returned deadlocked.
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