Karen Read’s second murder trial begins with new jury
Karen Read is starting her second trial after being prosecuted for the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, last year.
A German Shepard named Chloe is expected to take the spotlight Tuesday at the second murder trial of Karen Read, the Massachusetts’ woman accused of killing her Boston cop boyfriend.
Though not yet mentioned by name in the trial, the dog, who lived at the home where John O’Keefe’s body was discovered lying in the snow in January 2022, is at the center of Read’s defense.
Defense expert Marie Russell testified June 2 that the large, surface-level gashes found on O’Keefe’s arm appeared to come from canine claws and teeth. Russell returned to the stand Tuesday, June 3, and doubled down on those claims.
Her testimony comes days after prosecutor’s rested their case against Read, who they say backed into O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV at roughly 25 mph, causing him to hit his head on the hard ground, and then left him to die in the snow during a historic blizzard on Jan. 29, 2022.
Read’s defense team alleges she was framed for O’Keefe’s murder by cops who beat O’Keefe, let a ravenous dog attack him and then dropped his bloodied and bruised body outside in the freezing cold. The lead investigator in the case, Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, attempted to cover up the crime, they say.
The yearslong whodunnit case has sparked massive intrigue from true crime fans across the country, many of whom have feverishly taken sides.
Read’s first trial ended in a hung jury in 2024. Her second trial is now in its seventh week.
Here’s the latest from Day 26.
Russell testified June 2 that wounds on O’Keefe’s arm appeared to have been inflicted by a dog, noting patterns she said were consistent with the hundreds of other canine attacks she’s seen in her career. Pointing to a picture of O’Keefe’s battered arm, Russell described what she said were multiple groupings of incomplete dog bites, which are among the most common. The bites, she said, didn’t penetrate the “full thickness of the skin.”
She also contested previous testimony from Judson Welcher, the prosecution’s crash reconstruction expert who presented a case study from a car crash where a victim sustained several injuries, including skin loss. Russell suggested O’Keefe did not have the same types of injuries.
The prosecution began pressing Russell about her experience and alleged inconsistencies in her statements upon cross-examination. They asked if she had ever identified the origin of a wound as a dog bite without knowing where it came from prior to Read’s case. She said she hadn’t.
CourtTV has been covering the case against Read and the criminal investigation since early 2022, when O’Keefe’s body was found outside a Massachusetts home.
You can watch CourtTV’s live feed of the Read trial proceedings from Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts. Proceedings began at 9 a.m. ET.
Contributing: Michael Loria, USA TODAY
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