Karen Read trial live updates: Canton firefighter describes hearing Read say ‘I hit him’
Karen Read 's second trial in connection with the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, continues on Monday in Dedham's Norfolk Superior Court before Judge Beverly Cannone.
On Monday, the jury is expected to hear additional testimony from a forensic scientist with the Massachusetts State Police who testified about Read's blood alcohol content .
People to know:
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Hank Brennan, special prosecutor for the Norfolk County District Attorney's office
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Alan Jackson, lawyer for Read
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Hannah Knowles, forensic scientist at the Massachusetts State Police crime lab
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Ryan Nagel, his sister, Julie, was inside 34 Fairview Road on Jan. 29, 2022
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David Yannetti, lawyer for Read
12 p.m. - McLaughlin describes conversation with Read at 34 Fairview
McLaughlin described Read as "really concerned and involved" with O'Keefe at the scene. At the scene, McLaughlin spoke to Read to try and get basic information about O'Keefe, including his medical history.
When McLaughlin asked Read if O'Keefe had sustained any "significant trauma" before he was found in the snow. At that point, Read said, "I hit him, I hit him."
A police officer replied, "you what?" and Read again said "I hit him," McLaughlin said.
But she testified she didn't ask any follow-up questions because Read was "very upset" and she "didn't feel comfortable pushing and asking for more."
11:44 a.m. - Brennan calls Katie McLaughlin
After Sarah Levinson's testimony concluded, Katie McLaughlin, a Canton firefighter/paramedic, took the stand.
McLaughlin is one of several first responders who testified that she heard Read say "I hit him" on the morning of O'Keefe's death.
On the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, McLaughlin was inside the fire station when they got a call for a man unresponsive in the snow. That morning, McLaughlin said, she didn't know who lived at 34 Fairview Road.
She described seeing O'Keefe lying supine — face-up — when paramedics arrived.
11:30 a.m. - Jackson begins cross-examination of Sarah Levinson
Jackson's cross-examination of Levinson began with a review of her connections to the Albert family. She confirmed she had been friends with Brian Albert Jr. since high school and she knew his extended family.
When Levinson left 34 Fairview Road, she didn't see anything unusual, she confirmed. Jackson asked her a series of questions about her interview with former State Police trooper Michael Proctor in October 2022.
She confirmed she spoke to Julie Nagel before her interview with Proctor.
11:07 a.m. - Levinson takes the stand
When the trial resumed, Brennan called Levinson to the stand. No explanation was given for why Levinson was called instead of Katie McLaughlin, whom Brennan called before the break.
Levinson is friends with Julie Nagel and was inside 34 Fairview Road on Jan. 29, 2022 to celebrate Brian Albert Jr.'s birthday. As the night wore on, many of Albert's adult relatives, including his father, mother and aunt, Jennifer McCabe, returned to the house.
Levinson said there were no "problems" inside. McCabe encouraged her and Julie Nagel to stay and continue celebrating Brian Albert Jr.'s birthday.
"Anything extraordinary or remarkable happen inside that house?" Brennan asked. Levinson said there wasn't.
She confirmed that after Julie Nagel went outside to speak to her brother, then returned inside, she never saw anyone enter the home. Both she and Nagel later left the home with the McCabes.
Levinson confirmed McCabe's testimony that the group was joking about a loaf of bread they saw in the third row of the car.
10:40 a.m. - Cannone calls morning recess
Before Canton paramedic Katie McLaughlin took the stand, Cannone sent the jury out for a 20-minute recess. McLaughlin's testimony under direct examination should begin around 11 a.m.
10:37 a.m. - Maxon never saw O'Keefe on Fairview Road
Under cross-examination from Yannetti, Maxon confirmed she never saw O'Keefe inside the SUV while on Fairview Road.
She also testified that she wasn't concerned about what was going on inside the SUV at the time.
10:32 a.m. - Heather Maxon testifies
Brennan's next witness, Heather Maxon, was with Nagel when they arrived to 34 Fairview Road on Jan. 29, 2022.
She and Nagel dated a "few years back," she said. Maxon said Julie Nagel was the only person she saw in the driveway that night.
Maxon said she saw a woman sitting on the driver's side of an SUV as the truck drove by. She never saw anyone else.
"Did you see anybody lying on the front lawn?" Brennan asked. Maxon said she didn't.
10:24 a.m. - Nagel never saw broken taillight
During his re-direct, Brennan asked Nagel if he ever saw damage to the SUV's taillight or if he ever saw O'Keefe walk up to the house.
He said he didn't. Yannetti asked only one question of Nagel on his re-cross examination.
10:19 a.m. - Yannetti cross-examines Nagel
Yannetti's cross-examination of Nagel drilled down on his recollection of seeing Read inside the SUV. Nagel confirmed he was the closest person in the truck to the SUV and he never saw a person in the passenger seat.
Nagel confirmed the SUV was not driving erratically when it arrived to Fairview Road.
10 a.m. - Nagel describes seeing Read's SUV at Fairview
With Knowles off the stand, Brennan called Nagel, whose sister, Julie, was inside 34 Fairview Road on Jan. 29, 2022, to testify.
Nagel said he went to the home to pick up his sister. He had no reason to go there other than to pick her up.
He went there after leaving C.F. McCarthy's with a friend and his ex-girlfriend, and testified he saw a black SUV pull up to the house ahead of his truck. The truck was parked at the foot of the driveway.
The SUV was a car length away from a flagpole on the left side of the house as the truck drove by, he said.
"I saw there was a woman inside the SUV in the driver's seat with her hands at 10 and 2," Nagel said. He said he could see the woman inside because the car's dome light was on.
Nagel did not see anyone else inside the vehicle. He said he never saw anyone else enter the home, other than his sister.
9:48 a.m. - Knowles explains range in blood alcohol test results
Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally, the lead prosecutor during Read's first trial, began his re-direct of Knowles by having her re-explain much of the basis for her testing.
Knowles explained that the wide range of results she calculated for Read's blood alcohol at 12:45 a.m., between 0.14 and 0.28, was to account for many of the factors she was asked about on cross examination.
Those factors include a person's age, the medication they were taking and how quickly their body processes alcohol.
At 9:08 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, Read's blood alcohol was between 0.078 and 0.082, Knowles said. The legal limit is 0.08.
9:32 a.m. - Cross-examination of State Police expert continues
Yannetti's cross-examination focused primarily on the differences between the testing at the crime lab and Good Samaritan Hospital, where Read's blood was drawn. Knowles said she had no "direct knowledge" of the accuracy or reliability of the hospital's testing.
She confirmed her calculations, which showed Read's blood-alcohol content well above the legal limit around 12:45 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, were based largely on the hospital's results.
Yannetti also asked Knowles a series of questions where he essentially sought to undermine the reliability of her results in the view of the jury.
Knowles said the "foundations" of her calculations would be incorrect if Read continued drinking after 12:45 a.m. that morning. She also confirmed she was never asked to test the blood alcohol content for anyone else in the case.
9:07 a.m. - Court opens
With the jury out of the courtroom, Cannone called the lawyers up to sidebar. Read has joined the lawyers at sidebar conferences throughout the trial.
When jurors arrived, Cannone asked the panel if they had been able to follow her instructions about discussing the case and avoiding media coverage. Each juror said they had.
Read, 45, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of O'Keefe, who was found outside the home of a fellow Boston police officer on Jan. 29, 2022.
Norfolk County prosecutors say Read struck O'Keefe with her SUV while driving intoxicated. Read's attorneys say her car never struck O'Keefe and that others are to blame for his death.
Karen Read murder case
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