During both the first trial and retrial of Karen Read, Judge Beverly Cannone denied motions by Read’s lawyers, who wanted to tell jurors
two men who work for the firm ARCCA were hired by the Department of Justice -- meaning both defense experts Andrew Rentschler and Daniel Wolfe, testified they were hired by an unspecified third party.
Reportedly, ARCCA was contracted by the U.S. Attorney’s office for an investigation into the death of Read’s boyfriend, Boston Police officer John O’Keefe. The U.S. Attorney’s office has never confirmed or denied the investigation’s existence.
Contrary to popular opinion, the defense had no control over ARCCA's scope of work during the first trial. More specifically, under contract with the FBI, ARCCA was tasked with examining the damage on Read's car and O'Keefe's injuries to determine if they were consistent with a pedestrian collision. Their conclusions, which indicated O'Keefe's injuries were not consistent with being struck by a vehicle, were presented as evidence in Read's first trial.
During the first trial, the experts testified they were unaware that the subject crash and reconstruction related to KR and JOK. They also did not examine KR's vehicle still in the custody of Canton PD.
The judge overseeing Karen Read's case dealt a blow to her defense Monday, one day before the start of her second trial.
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A pair of accident reconstructionists told jurors during Karen Read's first trial that John O'Keefe's injuries weren't consistent with a car crash. Prosecutors now want to prevent them from testifying during Read's second trial.
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Crash reconstruction experts
The next two experts who were questioned both work for high-profile forensic consulting engineering company ARCCA. Daniel Wolfe and Andrew Rentschler were two of three of its employees who worked on a third-party report about what caused O'Keefe's death, they said.
"The agency that retained us gave us a select quantity of file material related to this case. And, essentially, left it as an open-ended question. Ultimately, was the evidence consistent with a pedestrian interaction between Mr. John O'keefe and [Read's] Lexus," Wolfe said, when asked what the team was tasked with.
They didn't share information on what they concluded and the lawyers were careful not to mention who had commissioned the report, but Wolfe told the judge that the information was provided to them by the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI.
"We had no say in what material was handed over to us," he said.
The Karen Read murder trial continued Tuesday without the jury. Instead, The defense, prosecution and even the judge took turns asking questions of three potential expert witnesses who may be allowed to testify. The voir dire proceeding involved retired emergency physician and forensic...
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Karen Read Trial (Pt 70) | Dr. Wolfe – ARCCA
Karen Read Trial (Pt 71) | Dr. Rentschler – ARCCA