The judge overseeing the Karen Read case allowed a dog bite expert hired by Read’s defense to testify at her second trial, and blocked key testimony from an expert hired by prosecutors in a series of orders issued Thursday.
Former police Lt. Garrett Wing will be allowed to testify that injuries sustained by Read’s boyfriend, John O’Keefe, were consistent with a dog attack. Judge Beverly Cannone wrote in a brief order that Wing “appears to be qualified by experience to provide some help to the jury on some issues in dispute.”
But in a blow for prosecutors, Cannone blocked their expert, James Crosby, from testifying O’Keefe’s injuries could not have come from the German Shepherd that Read’s defense has said caused the wounds. Read’s lawyers have claimed a German Shepherd named Chloe attacked O’Keefe inside the Canton home of a fellow Boston Police officer on the night he died.
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan said Crosby took molds of the dog’s mouth, which made it unlikely the wounds on O’Keefe’s arm came from Chloe.
Cannone also ruled that prosecutors must turn over communications with witnesses showing a reluctance or refusal to testify or a reluctance or refusal to cooperate. The order gives prosecutors a week to turn over the information.
Each of the issues ruled on by Cannone on Thursday were argued at a hearing on Wednesday, the final pre-trial hearing before Read’s second trial begins.
Read’s second trial — on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident causing injury or death — officially begins Tuesday.
Prosecutors say she intentionally hit O’Keefe with her SUV outside the home of a fellow Boston Police officer after a night of drinking and left him to die in a snowstorm.
Read’s defense claims she is being framed and others are responsible for O’Keefe’s death.
Separately, Read has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in a bid to get the charges of murder and leaving the scene dropped on double jeopardy grounds. The nation’s highest court will discuss whether to take up her petition at a conference on April 25.
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