Following questioning from defense attorney Elizabeth Little, Scordi-Bello agreed it’s a “possibility” some of O’Keefe’s injuries could be caused by any blunt impact, like from a punch or a strike from a baseball bat or barbell — a significant theory in the defense case.
Related: How Friday's testimony unfolded
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Testimony is slated to resume Monday in what has been a lengthy and at times tedious prosecution that has been the subject of rampant speculation and numerous conspiracy theories of a police coverup that have dominated headlines around the region.
Read, 44, is charged with second-degree murder and lesser charges including manslaughter in O’Keefe’s death on Jan. 29, 2022. Prosecutors claim that after a night of barhopping, Read drunkenly and intentionally struck O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV after dropping him outside an after-hours gathering at the Canton home of another Boston police officer, Brian Albert. Prosecutors submitted evidence showing their relationship had been fraying.
At the conclusion of testimony Friday, a line of pink-clad supporters who had waited outside all day cheered Read on as she walked out of the courthouse. The crowd of people has grown through the course of the trial, which has garnered national attention.
Some of the supporters even wielded merchandise and jewelry depicting red Solo cups, a symbol for what Read’s legal team says was a shoddy police investigation. Canton officers who initially responded used such cups from a neighbor to scoop up congealed blood at the scene.
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Two little red cups dangled from the ears of Kat Fotheringham, a Read supporter from North Carolina who bought them online. She said true-crime podcasts introduced her to the case, and she’s become, admittedly, “obsessed.” She said she’s in town for a wedding, but is returning next week to show support to Read as the trial nears its end.
“I just have to be up here,” she said, adding, “Any one of us could be Karen Read. I’m Karen Read. You’re Karen Read.”
After the prosecution rested Friday, Read’s defense team began its own case, with her lawyers calling a series of quick witnesses each aimed at poking a specific hole in the case against her. Testimony from the defense witnesses centered around whether O’Keefe’s injuries were consistent with an attack by a large dog rather than a vehicle strike.
Defense attorneys said after Friday’s court session that they expect to wrap their case up on Monday, which could allow for closing arguments to take place on Tuesday, meaning the end appears near for one of the Boston area’s most closely followed and controversial cases in recent memory. Jury deliberations could begin that same day.
After the prosecution wrapped up its case Friday, the defense argued that Judge Beverly Cannone should direct a verdict of not guilty, claiming the prosecution had not presented sufficient evidence to prove its case. Cannone denied the motion, which is common for defense lawyers to make after the prosecution rests.
Throughout the trial, the defense lawyers have focused on connections between witnesses, a police investigation that the defense has characterized as sloppy, and crude texts about Read by the state police investigator in charge of the case, a suggestion that he did not conduct a fair investigation.
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The defense claims Read is being framed. Her lawyers have said O’Keefe was actually killed by people at the gathering in the home at 34 Fairview Road — that he was beaten by those present and possibly bitten by Albert’s dog, an allegedly hostile German Shepherd mix named Chloe, and then left for dead in the snow.
Chloe was the focus Friday of defense witness Dr. Marie Russell, a retired emergency room physician in California who testified as an expert about dog bites. She said she heard about the case from a Globe story in May and reached out to the defense to tell them the wounds from autopsy photos looked consistent with an animal attack — like from a “large dog.”
Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally noted that no canine DNA was found on O’Keefe’s body, as a previous expert witness testified.
Another defense witness was Canton plow driver Brian Loughran, who said he did not see O’Keefe’s body outside the home when he drove by early that morning. He testified that he drove by multiple times after 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., which would have been after O’Keefe would have been hit by Read’s SUV.
The defense finished the day by calling Richard Green, a digital investigator hired by Read’s team. He testified that the much-debated search of “hos [sic] long to die in cold” by witness Jennifer McCabe, who was at the gathering, happened at 2:27 a.m. before Read found O’Keefe’s body. McCabe has denied that claim, and a prosecution expert said the search actually happened hours later after the body was found, but was logged at that earlier time because it was in a tab that was opened then.
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But Green said his analysis is based on “how this particular phone operates” and was “comparing it to other data on that phone.”
After court concluded for the day, defense attorney Alan Jackson told reporters that he plans on continuing to argue that someone else killed O’Keefe.
”They just didn’t investigate correctly. They focused on the wrong person from the beginning,” Jackson said outside the courthouse. “They never should have brought this case — everybody knows it.”
Sean Cotter can be reached at sean.cotter@globe.com. Follow him @cotterreporter. Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.
