MA - Professor Karen Read, 43, charged with murdering police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe by hitting him with car, Canton, 14 Apr 2023 #32 Retrial

[Wishbone]

I'm sorry, but I still cannot get over the AUDACITY of Hank to bring up his WIFE!!!

I'm not surprised by how low he will go after letting in the testimony about how JO's brother in law died. That was as bad as it gets. JMOO

 

[Bodhi]

A low level officer early in her career was called to a solo meeting with the police commissioner prior to taking the stand in a murder trial. At the center of this trial are allegations of investigator misconduct and planting of evidence, with third party culprits involving various members of law enforcement. She’s told by Cox to do the right thing. Dever then recants her statements and testifies she had false memories. She was combative and hostile on the stand. She was the epitome of the blue wall. IMO

I understand how you can be interpret it as changing testimony after being pressured by her current chief given the sequence in your post.

Do you know when the BPD chief met with Dever? From my understanding, it was only this spring after the defense called her to testify in Trial 2, long after she recanted to the FBI.

The sequence as I understand it is:

• August 2023--the FBI interviewed Dever, a year and a half after the January 29 day shift.
• Dever told them she recalled Higgins and Berkowitz talking in the sallyport by Karen's vehicle that day.
• Subsequently, the defense timeline established the Lexus arrived in Canton around 5:30.
• Dever realized the her memory of Higgins and Berkowitz with the Lexus that day could not be accurate.
• Dever contacted the FBI and recanted the false memory.

• April 2024--the defense contacted Dever.
• The defense was already aware she'd recanted her initial statement to the FBI and why.
• After the meeting, Dever emailed the FBI concerned by an attorney's reference to perjury.
• The FBI assured her perjury did not apply.
• The defense choose not call her in Trial 1.

• Spring 2025--the defense sent Dever a summons to testify in Trial 2.
• The Boston police chief requested to meet with after she was called by the defense.
• The chief expressed support for his officer and advised her to tell the truth.

The insinuation that Dever changed her testimony due to pressure is unsupported by evidence before the jury. She recanted to the FBI long ago, prompted by the defense's timeline. She did not testify in the first trial. She had no contact with either side after April 2024. Only after she was summonsed this spring for this trial did her current chief met with her.

The prosecution could have asked Dever if she was aware of or influenced by John's family having "Cop Killers!" screamed at them outside court or being stalked at the gravesite or the vilification of first responders. But it wasn't necessary.

Debating whether Dever felt pressure from either side is beside the point; the issue is cut and dry. The time she left the Canton PD is easily verifiable. The defense called her as their witness. They did not present evidence she was lying about when she left. If footage showed she was still at Canton PD when the Lexus arrived, they would have presented it.



The defense called Dever as their witness in this trial.

 

[mzmarymac]

I thought Brennan made some valid points, such as the spinning of Randy's right foot and possibly the weight differential. He did his homework. Still, I don't think it's enough to counter the expertise of Dr Wolfe's testimony and presentation. MOO

He managed to create a farfetched slight possibility that perhaps, maybe, sorta kinda, without any proof, that there might have been some possible way he was struck by a car. But that's not what they need right? It's the defense that has to show reasonable doubt. Picking apart tiny iotas of the evidence without a full respect to the entirety of the report doesn't establish any proof that he was hit by a car, but the defense has shown that there is a GREAT deal of reasonable doubt that he didn't.

 

[Forest_Wood]

I feel like Brennan by this line of questioning is calling his own expert out and making his expert look worse as Dr. Wolfe did so much more than his expert. Very strange to me. Brennan's voice is also so annoying! So whiny and accusatory! IMO!

Brennan is a low-class lawyer in a high-paid position. The discrepancy shows in his speech and in the words he chooses to use on defense witnesses and sometimes on CW witnesses (The ME). MOO

 

[sunshineray]

BBM. IMO, the bolded statement is not a fact. The CW definitely overcharged with murder 2. That makes me suspicious, too.

I believe they think, probably because of her toxic phone messages, that KR knew, at the moment she left, that she'd hit JO. I'm willing to think, being as angry and intoxicated as she was, that KR didn't really started to think oh my God I hit until

Are you talking about the alleged information that "Jen told someone that there was video of Karen hitting John"? The allegation that made into various new outlets? That proved to be false...

No

 

[ShadyLady]

Not only that, but he now sits on the board that oversees the police.
We can't make this stuff up.

I guess power walks and talks in Canton!

 

[jepop]

Snipped and bolder by me
What knee injuries? IIRC he had one tiny bruise on one knee.

She obviously saw something or she wouldn’t have spoken to the FBI in the first place. I would think talking to the FBI is a big deal, even to LE. Also she was talking about the chief and an FEY3sD agent, not some other patrol officers! Either the prosecution or defense could’ve pulled her records but that would only show her clock out time. I wonder if she even checked her times. Didn’t she testify that she saw some timeline and then decided she couldn’t have seen anything? Which still makes no sense to me. Again, she must have seen something or I don’t think she would’ve spoken to anyone in the first place. She didn’t even try to say maybe it was another day or similar car. She just said it didn’t even happen. So weird. Also her courtside manner could use a little work.

Yes, on the knee injury. It was a very small bruise about half a centimetre in diameter IIRC. Laughable to try and make that significant in relation to an impact with the suv at any speed beginning at 8 miles / hour and increasing from there. Jmo I don't believe that injury holds any significance. This is Dr Rentschler's area of expertise and he'll be educating the jury on Monday but memory from round 1 is that it proves nothing. Jmo

 

[Elliot_Alderson]

Sheesh, 84 pages, need a mod to come make a new thread.

 

[sunshineray]

Or they just don't think it's worth it to charge someone with perjury.

I doubt that, MO

 

[Elliot_Alderson]

I doubt that, MO

Why? Can you provide statistics of people charged with perjury abundantly?

 

[waldojabba]

I just still can't get over Hank bring up his wife. Sorry but Hank is just a horrible human being and I can see why he would defend Whitey.

There were rumors his wife liked posts on social media about karen being innocent. You'll notice Hank did not put anythng in to evidence and was just looking to try and rattle our "crash daddy: and make him look crooked. The harrassment this mans family went through was not good. The post was probably fake I'd assume -
Hank is crooked so he thinks everybody is crooked.
JMO

 

[Spider92]

I'm sorry, but I still cannot get over the AUDACITY of Hank to bring up his WIFE!!!

I missed that - was there a copy of a text that the wife had sent Dr. W?

 

[MerlinFalcon]

If there is one thing, beyond rudeness and unprofessionalism, that Brennan is good at it’s confusing witnesses.

 

[Maat99]

Why? Can you provide statistics of people charged with perjury abundantly?

And more specifically, statistics of people charged when the perjury benefits the prosecution

 

[AngTxGal]

yes, I just wanted to show it He actually said the sweatshirt was 'mangled', and mentioned the crash test dummies injuries as well.

Dr. Wolfe made it clear that shards of tail light would move slower then the body, it is physically impossible for them to go beyond the sweatshirt.

in other words, how I understood it, they could not have made holes and gone "into" the sweatshirt. JMO

Absolutely- the force of the shards moving at that speed is not greater than the force needed to poke holes in the sweatshirt. They would bounce off, and there is more…

Then the question would be about dog bites- why can dog bites go through a sweatshirt?
They are pointed, curved, and the force is not linear but rotating around the axis of the hinge of the jaw. The force includes both the top and bottom jaw moving toward one another.
Dog teeth on a jaw are absolutely made to poke holes.

But.. if you take the teeth out of a canine skull and throw them at a sweatshirt- they are not going to align to be able to poke holes! They would randomly fly through the air

IMO

 

[sunshineray]

But your surmisation was not brought up either?

No it was not, I wonder why the defense wouldn't ask for proof? Probably because they know there is proof and they wanted only to insinuate, AJMO

 

[LaineyJ]

There were rumors his wife liked posts on social media about karen being innocent. You'll notice Hank did not put anythng in to evidence and was just looking to try and rattle our "crash daddy: and make him look crooked. The harrassment this mans family went through was not good. The post was probably fake I'd assume -
Hank is crooked so he thinks everybody is crooked.
JMO

How is that even allowed?

 

[sunshineray]

Why? Can you provide statistics of people charged with perjury abundantly?

Just as stated, my opinion.

 

[Elliot_Alderson]

Just as stated, my opinion.

OK, then it's a baseless one IMO

 

[mrjitty]

If I'm a juror I'm thinking yep, you just showed an arm breaks a taillight. How it breaks, the exact pattern, depends on where the arm hits.

Dr Wolfe did not demonstrate to me that a dummy arm would react in the same way as a human arm, in terms of movement against jagged broken edges and causing damage to fabric.

He did demonstrate to me how John would have spun around and left his shoe behind, in test E.

Dr Wolfe compared apples and oranges, using an arm dangling on a string, and a dummy which he did not show reacts in the exact same way as a body with muscles. He showed bias when he said the results were inconsistent with the damage seen on Read's car, meaning the arm didn't hit in the exact same spot and therefore the exact same pattern of breakage was not replicated.

I've seen plenty of video now to show that an arm breaks a taillight at lots of different speeds. I don't think Brennan needs to do much work this afternoon.

JMO

BIB. Together with the debris field this seems like a huge own goal. What on earth was AJ thinking?

MOO