Digital forensic expert, accident reconstruction investigator testify after juror dismissed in Karen Read murder trial - Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News (2024)

DEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - Testimony resumed in the Karen Read murder trial Friday after a lengthy delay that ended with a juror being dismissed.

One day after jurors heard expert testimony about DNA in the case, the newly whittled-down panel heard from a digital forensic expert and an accident reconstruction investigator.

As proceedings got underway, Judge Beverly Cannone gathered first with lawyers near 9 a.m. Friday for a sidebar discussion.

A female juror was soon brought up to the bench to also speak with Cannone and was briefly seen on a Court TV pool camera. The photographer immediately panned down, but the juror was seen walking through the shot.

The court went into recess after the incident and Cannone returned to her chambers. When she returned she ordered the camera be shut off through Friday morning’s testimony.

Cannone spoke with the first juror and several other jurors before dismissing the juror who was seen on camera.

“There are good and sufficient reasons for that juror to be excused,” Cannone said. “They are personal to that juror.”

A new witness finally took the stand near 10:30 a.m. with a prominent empty seat in the front row of the jury box.

Read, 44, of Mansfield, is facing charges including second degree murder after prosecutors said she hit Boston police officer John O’Keefe with her SUV and left him to die after dropping him off outside the Canton home of Brian and Nicole Albert on Jan. 29, 2022.

Read and O’Keefe were dating when O’Keefe died.

Read’s defense has said she is being framed, saying O’Keefe was actually beaten to death and attacked by a dog during a party inside the Albert home.

Read’s attorneys claim police covered up details and planted evidence to implicate Read in the case.

The latest jury dismissal on Friday comes after Cannone dismissed another juror for personal reasons on Wednesday. There are now 15 jurors remaining in the trial, with three jurors classified as alternates.

Witness testimony resumes

Digital forensic expert Jessica Hyde took the stand as the prosecution’s 63rd witness.

She said she received data from both the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office and Read’s defense team. She said she examined Google searches done by Jennifer McCabe on Jan. 29.

McCabe was at the party at the Albert house the night O’Keefe died and already testified in the trial.

Of interest is one search McCabe made asking “Hos long to die in cold?”

The defense claims McCabe made the search at 2:27 a.m. on Jan. 29, long before she was informed O’Keefe was missing. McCabe has said she made the search hours later as the request of Read after they found O’Keefe’s body.

Hyde said records timestamped at 2:27 a.m. do not necessarily mean McCabe made her search at that time. Rather, she said 2:27 a.m. is the time when the tab used by McCabe’s browser was originally opened.

Hyde’ said McCabe was looking up the “Hockomock Sports” website at 2:27 a.m. and then Googled “Hos long to die in cold” at 6:23 a.m. In her testimony, she said the defense drew a false conclusion that a search about dying in the cold was deleted.

Accident reconstruction investigator testifies

Hyde finished her testimony early Friday afternoon.

State police Trooper Joseph Paul testified next. Paul works with the state police collision analysis and reconstruction unit and soon showed jurors a scale diagram he created showing the positioning of O’Keefe in relation to items in the Alberts’ yard.

Paul said he got information from Read’s Lexus showing a series of “acceleration events.” In one event outside the Albert house, Paul said data showed Read’s car slowed down and made a U turn. Paul said the car accelerated in reverse twice, with the gas pedal pressed at 50% in some cases.

One event captured by the Lexus lasted 10 seconds, according to Paul, and saw the car accelerate to 24 miles per hour. Paul told jurors the gas pedal was pressed nearly three quarters of the way down to the floor.

Paul said the data is consistent with a pedestrian strike. He said O’Keefe’s head injury could have happened when he hit a curb. He said this incident would have been a “side swipe” strike involving the corner of Read’s car.

As Paul remained on the stand, jurors saw video of Read’s car driving quickly in reverse as part of reconstruction efforts.

Cannone sent jurors home shortly before 4 p.m. Paul remained on the stand, though, for voir dire questioning to preview testimony about a separate incident where Read backed her car into O’Keefe’s car.

The defense has pointed to the incident as a time when Read could have broken her tail light, rather than when she allegedly hit O’Keefe.

The prosecution has pushed back on the defense’s claims and is hoping to get Paul’s opinion on the incident.

Read’s trial will be back in session on Monday. When court proceedings resume on Tuesday, the jury will not be present as parties conduct voir dire sessions with the defense’s expert witnesses. There will be no court on Wednesday and a half day next Friday to make way for a hearing in another case where Cannone is presiding.

This is adeveloping story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)