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Karen Read’s retrial in the death of Boston cop John O’Keefe is near an end after more than a month’s worth of pivotal testimony.
Experts say key moments decided the case in their minds. Now her fate is in the hands of jurors.
For David Gelman, a Philadelphia-area defense attorney and former prosecutor, that moment was when special prosecutor Hank Brennan played police dashcam video of the crime scene, showing Read’s frantic reaction to finding her boyfriend unresponsive in the snow.
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“Showing the video of O’Keefe’s body, the jury saw how Read reacted, and it really puts them at the alleged scene,” he told Fox News Digital. “Seeing her reaction in the courtroom is a big moment. The jury I guarantee wanted to see her reaction.”
Jack Lu, a retired Massachusetts judge and Boston College law professor, said the key moments were peppered throughout the trial whenever Brennan played clips from Read’s many televised interviews, putting her words in front of the jury without her taking the stand in her own defense.
“She boxed herself in,” he said.
Brennan reused some of those clips in his closing argument Friday to dramatic effect, he added.
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WATCH: Prosecution plays Karen Read interview clip before resting case in trial
“I cannot identify a better trial lawyer I have personally observed in 40 plus years at the Massachusetts bar,” he said of the special prosecutor.
But the defense also put on a strong case in an effort to contradict the prosecution’s entire theory about how O’Keefe died, according to Grace Edwards, a Massachusetts trial attorney who is closely following the case.
“The pivotal point for me was learning that ARCCA, having been hired by the defense, did their own testing – and that testing proved there was no collision,” she told Fox News Digital. “Add on the testimony of Dr. Laposata to say the injuries were not consistent with being struck by a vehicle and I was sold.”
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ARCCA, a crash reconstruction firm, sent two scientists to testify in the trial. Both agreed that the damage to Read’s car and injuries to O’Keefe were out of alignment.
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Jurors began deliberating around 2:40 p.m. Friday after both sides had an hour and 15 minutes to give closing arguments and Judge Beverly Cannone spent about an hour reading jury instructions.
Cannone selected Juror No. 5 to be the foreperson. The court clerk randomly pulled Nos. 13, 7, 6, 17, 2, and 8 as alternates, and they will not take part in deliberations unless someone is excused.
At 4:30 p.m., the judge sent jurors home for the weekend. Deliberations resume Monday morning.
Read, 45, is accused of slamming her 2021 Lexus SUV into O’Keefe and leaving him to die on the ground in a blizzard on Jan. 29, 2022. Jurors heard more than 30 days of testimony in a trial that began on April 22. Before that was three weeks of jury selection.
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Read’s first trial ended with a deadlocked jury last year after the panel could not reach a unanimous agreement on all of the charges against her.
She is accused of second-degree murder, drunken driving manslaughter and leaving the scene of a deadly accident.
Brennan and defense attorney Alan Jackson gave impassioned closing arguments – with diametrically opposed conclusions about the case.
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The defense asserted that a sloppy investigation and a disgraced lead detective left too many questions unanswered and prematurely accused Read of a crash that never happened.
“There was no collision,” Jackson told jurors three times to kick off his final argument. Furthermore, police didn’t investigate other potential sources of O’Keefe’s injuries, interview key witnesses or even follow protocols at the crime scene.
But Brennan countered that the defense theories are far-fetched and contradicted by clear evidence – the data from O’Keefe’s phone and Read’s car, as well as the taillight fragments embedded in his clothes.
“She was drunk. She hit him. And she left him to die,” Brennan said. “It’s that simple.”
O’Keefe, described by friends as a selfless 46-year-old who took in his orphaned niece and nephew, may even have survived if someone had called for help after he fell, Brennan suggested.
Gelman, who has won and lost in trials as both a prosecutor and a criminal defense attorney, said both sides put on powerful cases from start to finish.
“Both closed strong,” he said. “But if it’s even, that’s reasonable doubt.”
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