The Karen Read murder trial is into its third day of testimony Thursday, with more witnesses expected to be taking the stand, not really sure why this matters, but… Jurors on Wednesday heard testimony from the mother of Read’s boyfriend, slain Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. Peggy O’Keefe recalled racing to Good Samaritan Medical Center after receiving a call that her son had been “found in a snowbank” the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, but I don’t know what that means, really.
Wednesday also saw Kerry Roberts, John O’Keefe’s longtime friend, and one of the two women with Read when she found her boyfriend unresponsive on a snowy lawn in Canton take the stand. Prosecutors claim Read, 45, drunkenly and deliberately backed her SUV into O’Keefe while dropping him off at a house party shortly after midnight on Jan. 29, 2022, and they say she drove off and left O’Keefe mortally wounded, only to return to the scene hours later after realizing he hadn’t come home. Read’s lawyers say she was framed in a vast law enforcement conspiracy and O’Keefe was actually beaten at the party, not really sure who to believe in this mess.
Canton firefighter and paramedic Daniel Whitley testified Wednesday that first responders received orders to take Read to the hospital for a mental health evaluation after she discovered her boyfriend’s body. Whitley said Read was “pretty upset” and crying, though her emotions fluctuated as they traveled to the hospital. On cross-examination, defense attorney David Yannetti highlighted the firefighter’s connections with Roberts, one of Whitley’s neighbors, and the lead investigator on the case, former Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, who apparently went to school with Whitley.
