MA - Professor Karen Read, 43, charged with murdering police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe by hitting him with car, Canton, 14 Apr 2023 #20 Retrial

[mrjitty]

The defense pressed her. She denied all the calls. This one that was answered is probably the reason why. If no one else can find the trial exhibits, I will when time permits. In the meantime, none of this changes those arms wounds into something they are not. I'm sure there is a way to speculate away all the evidence of an alternative to the tail light killer impact theory, but the actual physical evidence says otherwise. Once that is clear, JMc's deceptions under oath, and also the butt dial deceptions of BA and Higgins at 2.30am, are a little harder to write off as irrelevant. Jmo.

I guess what I am trying to establish re Trial 1 is what things are facts, what things are mere allegations, and what things are speculation that were never in evidence. With this case I find it exceptionally difficult.

JMcs phone is one good example of this. Having gone back to the original testimonies, I think it is beyond argument that she did not in fact delete searchs or certain claimed calls as one often hears. IMO Green simply messed up the analysis.

I don't disagree about ARCCA - this is one aspect of the case I can't reconcile.

I agree the butt dial stuff is not a credible answer but again I suspect there is a tactical reason for that response not related to guilt. In other words the witness is being accused of being a party to murder by the attorney AND is expected to testify to background context in this case - that is a position with legal jeopardy for the witness. In some respects she'd be well advised not to testify at all even if innocent.

Whether or not JOK answered this call is potentially quite critical in a way that was not well understood in T1 IMO. My guess is he didn't answer it, but it seems the CW did not see the need to address this point in any detail. At least from my review of the technical experts - they did not focus on these calls. But timeline is now quite crucial!

IMO

 

[mrjitty]

mrjitty, I will begin and close with my thanks for your welcoming and perceptive responses to my posts. They've been much appreciated.

Thanks and likewise!

Also want to say that I have followed your many, and well nuanced, posts on the double jeopardy issue. I've reviewed the brief submitted by KR's appellate lawyers to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and there's a passage in the brief (at p. 47) that expresses the legal corner which (you have rightly pointed out) the defense has painted itself into:

"In this circumstance, where the jury reaches a deadlock without specifying the count(s) on which it has reached an impasse, it is a straightforward (and, the defense contends, constitutionally required) follow-up to ask whether the deadlock relates to some as opposed to all counts."

https://www.bostonherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/karen-read-sjc-brief.pdf

This is quite the legal "Hail Mary" because, as you've pointed out, such a procedure could often work to the detriment of criminal defendants and has, on that basis, been cautioned against by the pertinent case law. In its amicus brief, the ACLU does not reach for that argument and, thus, does not offer a rule that would explain why Judge Cannone should have acted differently from the way she did.

Yes. The highest court in the land is most concerned with the future operation of law in 1000s of jury trials across America. I think it is quite unlikely they will see the need to upend the apple cart over one case.

As for the upcoming re-trial, it has occurred to me that my engagement with the board has gotten me to the point where, to my own satisfaction, I know not only what "must" have happened outside 34 Fairview but what "did" happen, as far as that is going to be known. The prospect of the entire story being replayed for the benefit of the second jury is, from that perspective, not of great interest.

The testimony of the CW's new crash reconstruction witness will be something new, and I expect I will monitor that, without expecting any major revelations. On the subject of crash reconstruction, and ARCCA, one item that we don't have available to us (as far as I know) is the original written report that ARCCA submitted. If that report were available for examination and dissection, I believe the limitations of the experiments carried out by ARCCA, and of the conclusions that can reasonably be drawn from those experiments, would be more apparent.

My thanks again to you, and to all of have acknowledged my posts, and I will (probably) weigh in again, somewhere down the road.

I hope you do weigh in on ARCCA. I agree their scope is somewhat of an elephant in the room. Given the jurisdiction of the FBI, to my mind its a fair bet they were looking at whether Proctor must have staged the tail light evidence. This is why they did the glass cannon - to see if the light could have broken some other way. I guess at the end of the day, they didn't find anything worth pursuing there.

IMO

 

[mrjitty]

In terms of table stakes here is where I am at on the eve of trial.

I used to believe Proctor staged the tail light but now I believe there is no way he could have staged the initial pieces. I also don't think it's possible the defendant broke out some pieces by striking JOK's vehicle as the bumper of both vehicles would need to crumple. I also think if there really was a corrupt plot to frame the defendant, Proctor never would have been fired.

I think there is nothing beyond speculation re the supposed fight theory.

IMO murder 2 should have been dismissed by the CW for this trial. it appears to have been rejected by the jury. I think common sense dictated they drop it.

Unless they can do better with the new extraction of the tech stream, I don't know how they can prove the vehicle strike as causing death BARD.

Maybe Brennan has sorted out all the worst problems but I would not be surprised to see the jury hang again.

All my opinion.

 

[mrjitty]

I think they tried to between 2:21:57-2:39:18

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Feel better!

Thanks mate!

OK so this helped a lot. JMc is x-ed on the JOK phone extraction. Status of the 12.29 call in the exhibit is shown as 'unknown' as to whether answered or not.

D goes on to accuse her of deleting the call log in her on phone.

Wow - what an effort to track down this one fact lol.

Thanks again!

 

[fcavanaugh]

DBM. Wrong thread.

 

[Forest_Wood]

I think they tried to between 2:21:57-2:39:18

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Feel better!

What is the significance of the Bulldog JMc stating Higgins' jeep was behind Read's vehicle, around 37:30?

 

[jepop]

<modsnip - not an approved source>

There was zero evidence provided either in testimony or exhibits to suggest anything untoward about the data proving Jennifer McCabe made 6 or 7 calls to John O'Keefe's phone, between 12.29 and 1am. She denied making those calls; when pressed she denied recalling them. She absolutely denied deleting them. Those calls happened unless we want to start pretending this evidence doesn't exist. Speculation to the contrary has no basis. Jmo

Let's not conflate those calls with the contested 2.37am google search 'Hos long to die in cold'.

I also see no basis for speculation that the answered call from Brian Higgins to Brian Albert at c2.30am didn't happen and somehow the data is wrong. Testimony by both men was the standard butt dial, whilst denying the call was picked up. The basis for writing off all/most? of these denied and deleted calls as if the cellbrite data is wrong is flabbergasting to me. I see no testimony by any cw experts from trial X 1 that disproved the extraction results, so why should we speculate the reports are wrong. The witnesses lied. Jmo

 

[turaj]

where are they today? Picking more jurors? When are opening statements? Thanks.

 

[rescuemom]

Thanks mate!

OK so this helped a lot. JMc is x-ed on the JOK phone extraction. Status of the 12.29 call in the exhibit is shown as 'unknown' as to whether answered or not.

D goes on to accuse her of deleting the call log in her on phone.

Wow - what an effort to track down this one fact lol.

Thanks again!

It was close to or with that call that JOK's phone was manually locked/turned off. IMO, it could not be answered by him or anyone else after that.

 

[cocomod]

During this retrial and reading tweets showing the cell phone data, I have really come to the OPINION and belief that KR really didn’t have time to kill him and not be seen. This whole case actually falls apart with the CW witnesses that were at the party and the cell phone data. The ones that saw her in the vehicle alone, the ones that were watching out the window for OJO to get there, then the evidence of her arriving back at his house. There is such a tight time frame…. Add to that the video missing from the library…. Plus, why would you be the one to raise the alarm if you were the one that killed him or knew how he died? If you knew how he died, it would make more sense to ignore the body on the lawn, stay holed up in your house, refer to him as a man rather than my friend or by name, deny all calls made in the middle of the night as butt dials, throw away your phone, delete evidence of calls just certain calls, not all calls

 

[Spectrix]

where are they today? Picking more jurors? When are opening statements? Thanks.

Jury selection streaming live now -

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[turaj]

Looks like need 2 more...hope they get them. today and lets get this trial going.

 

[turaj]

It's streaming live now -

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picking a jury in this or any high profile case is so tedious...glad they are taking the time for 2 more as they will definitely lose some for misconduct, health or other reasons.

 

[mrjitty]

According to Trooper Guarino's report in consultation with Cellebrite, JMc did not delete any calls. I have to say, seeing Green also claims she deleted the 911 call, the idea she was trying to cover anything up here makes no real sense to me.

Anyway, best case it is contested whether she deleted anything.

 

[turaj]

One thing that I learned from all those media interviews that KR did in the last year is that they made the correct decision in not having her testify...she is not like-able and that can really impact a jury.

 

[mrjitty]

One thing that I learned from all those media interviews that KR did in the last year is that they made the correct decision in not having her testify...she is not like-able and that can really impact a jury.

Also not giving a version allows the defence to exist in the grey areas of the timeline.

Her account of events in the doco is suddenly much more definitive and potentially a problem IMO, For instance she claims to have called JOK while he was inside the house from the Lexus parked outside - then gets angry and leaves. The call this must be is at 12:33.35 - but she connects to the Meadows lane WIFI only 4 mins later. So how is this possible? It is also 9 mins after she arrived. Surely she left before this.

I wonder why her counsel allowed this personally.

 

[Forest_Wood]

One thing that I learned from all those media interviews that KR did in the last year is that they made the correct decision in not having her testify...she is not like-able and that can really impact a jury.

I like her!

 

[Izzylizzy]

2 hours ago

'Lawyer Reacts: Big George’s Thoughts On Karen Read's Supreme Court Appeal And Buffer Zone Lawsuit'​

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[iusedtofloat]

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Even a 30 year veteran of CPD firmly believes the investigation was entirely botched. I get the impression he thinks it was on purpose, because he points out very obvious screw-ups that could've been corrected by any of the cops that morning but NOBODY did their job... He talks about things like securing the scene, making sure nobody else was hurt on the property, interviewing the property owners (a man who happened to be a Boston cop and happened to just "sleep through" a bunch of chaos outside where another cop was found dead, especially since Canton is probably the nosiest community I've ever seen)

 

[iusedtofloat]

I like her!

I like KR too. Everyone expects her to be in this devastated grieving widow mode for yeeeears, and to not be strong when she's being attacked from all angles. They criticize if she makes ANY face whatsoever in court while responding to any of Bev's super sane and super normal rulings, they even somehow find ways to criticize Karen for being the victim of disgusting misogynistic behavior by Proctor. I think she's incredibly resilient and seems like she'd be fun to have a meal with.