Northeast
Karen Read murder trial: Prosecutors face challenge with 'undetermined' cause of death
A forensics expert zeroed in on two pieces of evidence ahead of Karen Read’s murder trial — the autopsy and the way the victim’s clothes were handled — and said he believes the medical examiner’s testimony will be pivotal.
Read allegedly hit her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, with her car and left him to die in the snow, prosecutors said. Read denied the allegations and claimed there was a cover-up to frame her.
O’Keefe’s official cause of death is listed as “undetermined,” which sets up the medical examiner as the “big star” of the trial, forensics expert John Scott Morgan told Fox News Digital.
“I urge everybody that’s following this case to really pay close attention to what the medical examiner says, because they will be asked to explain the logic behind listing this as an undetermined,” Morgan said. “I would expect the defense to particularly focus in on that question, and it will be framed in a manner in which they will say, ‘Well, you know, we’ve got the prosecutor here that is saying that this is, in fact, a murder. What is it, doctor, what is keeping you from ruling this as a homicide?”
KAREN READ MASSACHUSETTS TRIAL: 3 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT WOMAN CHARGED WITH OFFICER BOYFRIEND’S MURDER
Karen Read sits in court during jury selection at Norfolk County Superior Court April 17, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. (David McGlynn/New York Post via AP, Pool)
The case goes back to 2022 in the Boston suburb of Canton, Massachusetts, where O’Keefe was found dead. Both O’Keefe and Read were drunk that night, according to court documents.
The trial started with jury selection last week after nearly two years of divisive rhetoric on both sides and an undercurrent of controversy fueled by a federal probe into the defense’s cover-up allegations.
MASSACHUSETTS SHELLS KAREN READ ACTIVIST ‘TURTLEBOY’ BLOGGER WITH CRIMINAL CHARGES IN FIRST AMENDMENT FIGHT
On Wednesday, a full jury was selected among hundreds of prospective jurists, setting the stage for what’s expected to be a lengthy and tense trial. Read’s supporters and adversaries have been clashing outside the courthouse.
On Thursday, several pretrial motions are expected to be resolved, and opening statements are scheduled to start Monday.
Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe (BPD)
Karen Read departs Norfolk Superior Court after a day of jury selection April 17, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
O’Keefe suffered multiple wounds, including skull fractures consistent with blunt-force trauma that led to bleeding in the brain, swollen black eyes and several lacerations and abrasions to his right arm and hands.
The prosecution alleges the injuries were sustained when Read hit him with her car, while the defense says the injuries were suffered during a fight inside the house and a dog attack.
KAREN READ, CHARGED WITH MURDER IN BOSTON COP BOYFRIEND’S DEATH, LEARNS TRIAL START DATE AFTER HEATED HEARING
“That’s very specific information,” said Morgan, who spent over 20 years in the New Orleans coroner’s office and with the Fulton County Medical Examiner in Atlanta before becoming a professor at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama.
The key is when this information about a possible dog bite was relayed to the medical examiner.
If the medical examiner didn’t know about the dog bite defense during the autopsy, the examiner likely wouldn’t have attempted to get evidence, like dog hair or a saliva swab, to test if there was canine DNA, Morgan said.
Karen Read appears in Norfolk County Superior Court for a pretrial hearing. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
WATCH: Morgan previews potential arguments for O’Keefe’s injuries
‘There’s one issue here that has been particularly troubling to me’
Morgan said how O’Keefe’s clothing was removed during life-saving efforts, how they were preserved and the chain of custody “is very important here.”
If reports about clothing being piled up in the corner of a trauma room are accurate, potential evidence is compromised, he said.
MASSACHUSETTS DA SHREDS ‘CONSPIRACY THEORIES’ IN KAREN READ MURDER CASE OVER BOSTON COP BOYFRIEND’S DEATH
“Are we talking about hours? Days? Weeks? Because the longer you wait to submit this, the less secure it is,” Morgan said, “And if you can’t account for it 24/7, you spoil the chain of custody. And, at that point, there’s little or no accountability. You don’t know who’s come in contact with these items.
“It can be very delicate. And once you have that evidence as a forensic investigator, you need to know how it was packaged and who packaged it.”
Karen A. Read, 42, the girlfriend of late Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, was arraigned in Norfolk Superior Court on charges of second-degree murder in his death in Dedham, Mass., June 10, 2022. A photo of the couple together was presented by the defense to the prosecution. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Karen Read and her lawyer Alan Jackson pass through a gauntlet of supporters outside Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., April 16, 2024. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger)
He used the example of the O.J. Simpson murder case, which included over 100 exhibits of DNA evidence that his lawyers essentially discredited by arguing investigators botched the removal, collection, handling and processing of evidence, including bloody clothes.
“Reflect back to the O.J. Simpson case, where one of the detectives had been mentioned of riding around with blood samples in their car before they were ever submitted into evidence,” Morgan said. “All kinds of things can happen, particularly with blood evidence like that, because it is fragile.”
Read’s arrest and how a blogger fueled the fire
Read was arrested Feb. 2, 2022, and charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of an accident, causing injury and death. She pleaded not guilty to all charges.
“I did not kill John O’Keefe. I have never harmed a hair on John O’Keefe’s head,” Read told ABC News in August.
MASSACHUSETTS PROFESSOR CHARGED IN COP BOYFRIEND’S KILLING CALLS IT A ‘COVER-UP’
The case split the otherwise quiet suburban town, and a local blogger, Aiden Kearney, who goes by the nickname “Turtleboy,” riled up the “Free Karen” side of the debate.
He is often seen with a cellphone camera and bullhorn leading demonstrations and trumpeting Read’s law enforcement cover-up defense.
Massachusetts blogger “Turtleboy” Aiden Kearney was charged with witness intimidation for allegedly threatening witnesses in a murder case in Massachusetts. (Aidan Kearney(@DoctorTurleboy)/X)
The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office alleged he crossed a line by intimidating witnesses, and he was arrested in October, enraging his loyal followers.
The prosecutor alleged Kearney “showed up” at sporting events of witnesses’ children and “made scenes,” harassed and photographed witnesses at their homes and jobs and instructed followers of his blog to do the same.
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Kearney’s lawyer told the judge his client “vehemently denies” the accusations when Kearney pleaded not guilty, saying his client’s opinions are protected by the First Amendment.
Kearney was indicted on over a dozen felonies involving witness intimidation. He also served 60 days in jail for violating a protective order, but he has since been freed and is waiting for his own trial.
“The influence of media, social media, the sidebars with the turtle blogger. All the information that’s been going back and forth from the DA’s office and the defense team. I think it’s going to be a long road to pick an impartial jury,” Suffolk University Law Professor Christopher Dearborn told CBS News.
Fox News Digital’s Mitch Picasso contributed to this report.
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Connecticut
Several injured in I-91 crash involving multiple vehicles in Hartford: Officials
Multiple people were taken to the hospital following a crash on Interstate 91 in Hartford, officials said.
The Hartford Fire Department was called to the crash just before 6 p.m. The crash involved six to eight vehicles, according to officials, and happened on the southbound side near exit 33.
Multiple ambulances were also called to the scene, including one advanced life support unit.
Fire officials said all patients were helped at the scene before being taken to the hospital. It’s unknown at this time how many were injured and the severity of their injuries.
The Connecticut State Police assisted with traffic control and will investigate the crash.
Maine
‘I could die here’: Photographer recalls Maine wedding stabbing
A Massachusetts photographer was seriously injured when he was stabbed during a wedding reception last month in Raymond, Maine.
Donald Halsing, 26, was hospitalized for five days after the stabbing on May 23. NBC affiliate News Center Maine reported that 26-year-old Andrew Manderson was arrested and charged with elevated aggravated assault.
Still recovering, Halsing told NBC10 Boston the attack came out of nowhere — one moment, he was snapping photos on the dance floor, while the next, he was searching for help as blood spilled onto his camera.
“I was sitting there in that chair thinking, ‘There’s a real possibility I could die here,’” Halsing said. “Immediately, I put my hand on my chest here to try and stop the bleeding, get some pressure on it, and started yelling for help.”
Halsing was working at the reception at the Kingsley Pine Campgrounds. He took his last photo at 9:01 p.m., minutes before the stabbing.
“One of the wedding guests came up to me and started asking questions about our business,” he said.
Halsing said it was nothing out of the ordinary, and he tried to explain his photography business to the inquiring guest through the pulse of the DJ booth and celebrating guests.
“I thought he was going to reach in his back pocket for his phone, and instead, he didn’t pull out his phone — he pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed me,” he said.
Manderson, who faced a judge days later, is a cousin of the bride.
“There was this look in his eyes that he wasn’t quite all there,” Halsing said.
Halsing’s fiancée, Ashley Wall, was feet away as he struggled to stay awake. She has been his photography partner for eight years since they met at Framingham State University, and she was helping him work the wedding.
“People who were around me, they asked, ‘What can we do to help you? What do you need?’ And I said, ‘Please go check on Ashley. Please go check on my fiancée,’” he recalled.
Halsing spent five days in the hospital suffering from two lacerations to his liver, ultimately developing a blood clot in his left leg. But the road to recovery exceeds his physical wounds as he contemplates his mental state when he resumes photography next year.
“I’m also worried about what lingering effects there might be,” he said. “If we get out on the dance floor and I start remembering what happened, I don’t know how I’m going to react.”
Halsing still doesn’t know why he was attacked.
Manderson was released on $50,000 bail and is due back in court in October.
Massachusetts
Mass. House votes to set new rules for DiZoglio’s audit
Twenty-eight lawmakers dissented Wednesday as the Massachusetts House voted to set new terms around what state Auditor Diana DiZoglio would be able to review in the legislative audit voters authorized her to carry out in 2024.
Almost all House Democrats voted for the measure, which also proposes to make more state government records accessible to the public. Three Democrats — Cambridge Rep. Mike Connolly, Attleboro Rep. Jim Hawkins and Fall River Rep. Alan Silvia — joined the body’s 25 Republicans in voting no.
Speaker Ron Mariano said the bill responds to an ongoing call from voters for more transparency out of Beacon Hill and provides a path forward in lieu of a what he called “politically motivated audit conducted in violation of the Constitution.”
Leaders of the House and Senate have resisted DiZoglio’s audit push, arguing that a probe by the auditor’s office would run afoul of the separation of powers laid out in the state Constitution, bringing the legislative branch under the review of a piece of the executive branch.
“We are not accountable to any constitutional officer,” said Rep. Mindy Domb, an Amherst Democrat. “We are only accountable to our constituents.”
Taunton Rep. Lisa Field, a Democrat in her first term, said she was among the 72% of Massachusetts voters who backed the audit ballot question in 2024.
“Due to legitimate concerns and questions about constitutional privileges and separation of powers, we have been stuck on this audit issue for more than a year,” Field said. “Let’s not be like Washington, D.C. and accept such gridlock — not about the audit and not about public records. Let’s not let perfect be the enemy of good progress.”
The House’s bill would authorize DiZoglio to review what it defines as the “administrative functions” of the Legislature, going back to the 2021 fiscal year. Those areas include the adoption of annual budgets, official audits of the House and Senate by independent firms, spending by both chambers, and the execution of any financial settlements with lawmakers and employees.
It would also newly apply the state’s public records law to the governor’s office, and create a process by which people could request and receive certain legislative files.
Massachusetts is currently the only state where the Legislature, governor and judiciary all claim to be exempt from the public records law.
Warren Republican Rep. Todd Smola described the process that led up to Wednesday’s vote as opaque in and of itself. Mariano last week said the House would take up what he called comprehensive transparency legislation, but did not say when or what, specifically, the bill would do.
The bill was circulated to members of the House Ways and Means Committee around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, and committee members had a little over a half hour to vote on whether to advance it. Smola, the ranking Republican on the committee, said during that 34-minute window, “we had members on both sides of the political aisle that were calling each other back and forth to say, ‘Can you explain this portion to me?’”
“We are so much better than the process that has unfolded,” he said. “And for the sake of people that are asking us for transparency, that is not transparency. That’s the opposite of transparency.”
Rep. Michael Soter, a Bellingham Republican, said he was particularly concerned with a part of the bill that removes the courts from settling disputes between the auditor and the Legislature.
He said that by setting its own rules around an audit, the House would be “ensuring the auditor can only see exactly what we allow her to see and nothing more.”
It’s not clear yet if the Senate will pass the bill. Last week, state senators voted to turn over a limited set of documents to DiZoglio. The documents the Senate plans to provide mirror the records she would be allowed to review under the House bill.
Asked if he expected the Senate to agree to the legislation, Mariano on Tuesday said only, “I talked to the Senate.”
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