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Read has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of personal injury and death.
See how the day unfolded.
4:30 p.m. - Jury goes home.
The jury has been sent home for the day after deliberating for more than two hours. Around 4:30 p.m., Karen Read left the courtroom to cheers from her pink-clad supporters. Jurors will resume deliberations Wednesday morning after 9 a.m.
2:30 p.m. — Read leaves the courthouse
As Read appeared at the top of the steps after closing arguments concluded, she was met by a roar from the pink-clad crowd. She and her defense team fought through a media scrum dozens deep, and at one point she was surrounded by a circle of people with hands joined. She crossed the street and walked up a sidewalk lined with screaming fans, cheering her as if she were a rock star arriving on stage.
1:50 p.m. — Scene from outside the courthouse
Sarah Theriault, 45, drove four hours from Vermont to sit outside the courtroom and show her support for Karen Read. This is her fourth time making the trek, she said, and she plans to make it again tomorrow if a verdict isn’t announced later Tuesday afternoon.
“I’ve always been into true crime, and this case was the most corrupt case that I’ve been able to come witness,” she said. “I think it’s important that corruption is brought to light and that we can’t let cops dictate everything. I support the blue all the way, but this is not supporting the blue.”
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Theriault wore a black tank top and shorts but wore hot pink shoes, earrings, and bracelets to show her support for Read. As she spoke, a small group of children in pink dresses, bows, and baseball caps ran by.
“Can we go home now?” one girl asked her mom, who was sitting on a lawn chair a few steps away.
Erica Walsh, 37, has been making the drive from Charlestown every weekday since July after she learned about the trial from blogger Aidan Kearney, known as Turtleboy.
”This isn’t a party for us,” Walsh said. Read and her family “appreciate everything that these random citizens and random people all over the state, and country now, have done for her.”
Walsh and others pitch in to buy water bottles to hand out to make sure people — supporters, police officers, and passersby — stay hydrated, and they also order pizza for lunch from a local restaurant. At Dedham House of Pizza, Andres Vargas, 31, said that big orders are standard these days. The trial has been good for business, Vargas said in Spanish.
1 p.m. — Judge Beverly Cannone concludes her instructions to jurors
Cannone said the charge of manslaughter while operating under the influence includes the lesser offense of motor vehicle homicide.
That can be proven if prosecutors showed that Read was under the influence while driving, did so negligently, and caused O’Keefe’s death, Cannone said.
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“A person acts negligently when she fails to use due care,” Cannone said.
Read acted negligently, Cannone said, if she drove in a way a reasonable person would not have. Read’s intent does not matter when considering the count, Cannone said.
To prove the charge of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, prosecutors must show Read “knowingly collided” with him and left the scene to avoid prosecution, Cannone said.
Cannone said 12 of the 14 remaining jurors will decide the case, with two designated as alternates.
That will be done on “a random basis,” Cannone said. If a juror must be excused during deliberations, an alternate will step in and the jury must start deliberating “all over again,” Cannone said.
She said judges in Massachusetts select the jury foreperson. Cannone selected a young man, who nodded in agreement.
The verdict on each charge must be unanimous, she said.
Cannone said no juror is better qualified to weigh the evidence due to education level or experience.
“Your voices have equal weight,” she said.
Cannone said jurors must decide the case for themselves.
She urged jurors not to change their minds at any point “simply for the purpose of reaching a verdict.”
Cannone advised against conducting a “straw vote” at the outset of deliberations before reviewing the evidence.
She told the jury not to rush.
“Double-check whether you are actually using unsupported assumptions instead of the evidence,” Cannone said.
She said each juror should “participate actively,” especially if they feel fellow jurors are not considering an important piece of evidence.
Cannone said she can’t answer any jurors’ questions about the facts of the case, and they cannot review a transcript of any testimony.
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Cannone said “all other persons” are precluded from communicating with the jury about the case during deliberations.
She called the lawyers to sidebar before selecting two alternates among the jury.
Cannone told jurors “we all expect you to reach an impartial verdict” based only on the evidence admitted in court.
”You may now retire and deliberate your verdict,” Cannone said. The jury rose and exited the courtroom.
12:50 p.m. — Judge Beverly Cannone continues her instructions
Cannone said jurors can only consider the evidence about the trip O’Keefe and Read took to Aruba for the “limited purpose” of weighing the nature of their relationship.
In addition, jurors saw graphic crime scene photos during the case, Cannone said. She told jurors to consider the pictures only for the evidence they reveal about the case, not the sympathy they engender.
Cannone said in determining whether any statement made by Read was voluntary, jurors must consider “the totality of the circ*mstances.”
She said some witnesses were asked “hypothetical questions,” which jurors should only consider if they find “all the assumed facts were true.”
Cannone said jurors will decide whether the exhibits in the case show what the attorneys assert they demonstrate.
“In determining the facts in this case you may draw reasonable inferences from the evidence,” Cannone said.
Cannone said jurors “do not have to draw any inference whatsoever” on circ*mstantial evidence.
Any inference that is drawn must be logical, she said.
When evidence gives rise equally to two different propositions, it means prosecutors have proven neither scenario, prosecutors said.
She said an example of a reasonable inference would be coming home and seeing mail in the mailbox, and inferring that the postal service delivered the mail that day.
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Cannone said Read has “an absolute right not to testify” and jurors shouldn’t draw an “adverse inference” against her for declining to take the stand.
Cannone said to prove second-degree murder, prosecutors must prove that Read caused O’Keefe’s death and intended to kill him or grievously harm him, or committed an act that a reasonable person would’ve known created a strong likelihood that death would result.
She said grievous bodily harm means severe injury to the body.
“If you have a reasonable doubt as to whether Mr. O’Keefe’s death was accidental ... you may not find that the Commonwealth has proved that the defendant intended to kill,” Cannone said.
She said jurors can consider “any credible evidence” that Read was affected by her alcohol consumption.
Regarding the charge of manslaughter while driving under the influence, Cannone said prosecutors must prove Read was under the influence while driving, that she drove recklessly, and that her driving “caused the death of John O’Keefe.”
Cannone said a person does not have to be drunk to be under the influence.
“You should consider any believable evidence about the defendant’s alleged consumption of alcohol,” Cannone said.
She said Read’s blood test is not “sufficient” on its own to establish she was under the influence. Cannone said jurors can consider whether the test was administered properly.
She said prosecutors don’t need to prove whether Read intended to kill O’Keefe in determining whether she drove recklessly.
She said the manslaughter count includes the “lesser offense” of involuntary manslaughter, which can be proven even if prosecutors failed to prove Read was under the influence.
Read can be convicted of involuntary manslaughter if she “intended the conduct that caused the death,” Cannone said.
It’s not enough to prove Read acted negligently to prove the charge, Cannone said. The conduct must be shown to be “wanton or reckless.”
12:30 p.m. — Judge Beverly Cannone delivers instructions to jurors before they begin deliberations.
Cannone read instructions from the bench and said copies of them would be available to jurors.
She said Read is “presumed innocent” unless prosecutors have proven her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Cannone said Read does not have to “explain” anything and that the burden of proof rests entirely with the government.
She said proof beyond a reasonable doubt doesn’t mean proof beyond all possible doubt, but rather “an abiding conviction to a moral certainty that the charge is true.”
“Even a strong probability” that Read committed the crimes is “not enough” for a guilty verdict in the face of reasonable doubt, Cannone said.
“You will determine the facts in this case, and that is your job and your job alone,” Cannone said.
Cannone instructed jurors to judge the case solely on the law and the evidence.
“You cannot allow yourself to be influenced by any personal feelings” about the case, Cannone said.
She said lawyers’ arguments aren’t evidence.
If an attorney “argued something not supported by the evidence, you must disregard it,” Cannone said.
She told jurors not to draw unfavorable inferences from the fact that some witnesses spoke to lawyers before their testimony.
“The evidence consists of the testimony of the witnesses and the exhibits in this case,” Cannone said.
She said any information about the case coming from “outside the courtroom is not evidence,” nor are lawyers’ questions or statements from the judge.
Cannone said jurors may “feel sympathy” for O’Keefe’s family or for Read, but they must bring a “clinical detachment” to their review of the evidence.
She told jurors to “consider the evidence as a whole” during deliberations.
Cannone said the view that jurors took of the crime scene was part of the case, as was a demonstration from the witness stand on Google searches. Jurors can consider those things in their deliberations, she said.
Jurors can consider the demeanor of a witness and whether the person had “any bias” when they testified, she said.
Cannone said jurors have heard evidence that authorities did not conduct “certain tests” in the case. The jury should consider whether the omitted tests were standard and whether they affected the reliability of the evidence.
“All of these considerations involve factual determinations that are entirely up to you,” Cannone said.
12:15 p.m. — Prosecutor Adam Lally concludes his closing argument
Lally said the grass at the crime scene was “completely covered in snow,” except for the area under John O’Keefe’s body, where his phone was.
Since the storm began around midnight, that clear patch of grass showed how long his body was on the front lawn, Lally said.
As for the video footage of Read’s SUV slowly pulling out of O’Keefe’s driveway shortly after 5 a.m. and potentially making contact with his car, Lally said a witness testified that amount of force could not have caused such extensive damage to her taillight.
Lally said the hair found on Read’s bumper was “frozen” to it during the blizzard.
The weather “was a weapon” in the case, Lally said, noting O’Keefe was wearing just a shirt and jeans as he lay unconscious in the cold.
“All of the testimony tells you the same consistent account,” Lally said.
Jennifer McCabe and Kerry Roberts testified they couldn’t see John O’Keefe when they pulled up to the home, he said. It was Read who pointed him out. There were also no footprints or drag marks around the body, Lally said.
He said the defense wants jurors to believe that Brian Albert, “criminal mastermind that he is,” decided to knowingly leave a dead body on his front yard to frame Read.
Lally said Read told investigators later on Jan. 29 that the damage to her vehicle “happened last night,” although she didn’t know how.
Lally said a number of witnesses testified that O’Keefe never entered the Fairview home, though witnesses said they saw Read moving her SUV in front of the residence multiple times.
Witnesses in another vehicle testified they never saw anyone go into the Fairview home, Lally said.
One witness saw Read in the SUV with the dome light on, suggesting O’Keefe had opened the passenger door at the time and got out of the car, Lally said.
And one witness, he said, testified to seeing a large “blob” on the front lawn as she was being driven home early on the 29th.
He said medical testimony showed Read’s blood alcohol content would have been 0.13 to 0.29 when she struck O’Keefe.
On Jan. 29, Lally said, items were found near the curb at Fairview at “ground level.” Investigators found clear plastic with “dimples” on it. Those “dimples” are consistent with the scratch pattern on O’Keefe’s right elbow. Only O’Keefe’s DNA was on his clothing and under his fingernails, indicating there was no fight, Lally said.
He said the DNA of the hair was “consistent” with O’Keefe’s profile and that microscopic pieces of taillight were found in his clothing.
He said the evidence “demonstrates her guilt” and asked the jury to convict her.
Judge Beverly Cannone called a five minute recess before she delivers instructions to the jury.
Noon — Karen Read listens closely during prosecutor’s closing arguments
As prosecutor Adam Lally ran through the prosecution’s case against her, Read alternated between staring straight ahead, turning to quietly talk to her lawyers, and glancing over at the jurors. As they did when Jackson spoke, the 14 jurors generally sat attentively, looking at the prosecutor. Throughout the trial, they scribbled in notebooks, but during the closings, which come after all evidence has been presented, they sat with their hands in their laps.
11:50 a.m. — Prosecutor Adam Lally continues his closing argument
Lally said O’Keefe’s niece and nephew did not have access to his Ring security camera. But Read had joked with Brian Higgins at one point, “I know where the cameras are,” Lally said.
He said there’s no video footage of her arriving at the house early on Jan. 29, but there is video of her later backing out and coming close to O’Keefe’s car.
Read had also told Jennifer McCabe on the morning of Jan. 29 about the “cracked taillight” on her SUV, and Kerry Roberts also testified that she saw the broken light.
Read also texted Laura Sullivan, the mother of O’Keefe’s godson, that O’Keefe was found in the snow around 5 a.m. In fact, Read, Roberts, and McCabe found O’Keefe an hour later, although surveillance footage showed Read heading back to Fairview by herself around 5:18 a.m.
Lally said digital forensic experts testified that McCabe’s searches about hypothermia were made shortly before 6:30 a.m., and that the 2:27 a.m. timestamp that Read’s lawyers asserted was inaccurate.
Emergency responders at the scene said Read repeatedly stated “Is he dead? Is he dead?” Lally said. Read had asked McCabe at the scene to make the Google search about dying in the snow.
“She’s looking for confirmation,” Lally said.
Lally said Jennifer McCabe testified that O’Keefe was her friend, and that she invited him and Read to come back to the Fairview Road house with everyone.
McCabe testified there are “two hills” on a nearby street, which would match O’Keefe’s health data showing him going up and down stairs near the home, Lally said.
He said McCabe had told O’Keefe the Fairview Road house was near the home of O’Keefe’s former girlfriend.
Read mentioned that woman later on the morning of Jan. 29, Lally said.
McCabe also testified that she texted O’Keefe around 12:40 a.m. and couldn’t tell whether he was still out front of the house, Lally said.
He said Read brought up her “cracked taillight” around 5 a.m., and Read, McCabe, and Roberts later went to O’Keefe’s house.
McCabe and Roberts both took off their shoes before entering, which was a “strict rule” in O’Keefe’s house. Read just walked in with her shoes on, and jurors could hear her heels on the floor of the house during her earlier voicemail to him.
When they arrived at Fairview, Read made a “beeline” to where O’Keefe was lying on the front lawn in the snow, he said.
11:35 a.m. — Only Karen Read saw O’Keefe’s snow-covered body in the predawn blizzard, prosecutor says in closing argument
Prosecutor Adam Lally said John O’Keefe entered 34 Fairview Road into his Waze app at 12:19 a.m. Four minutes later, Read’s SUV does a three-point turn.
Lally said “there is no movement” of O’Keefe’s phone from 12:25 a.m. until his body was discovered “sometime after 6 a.m.”
About eight minutes after the three-point turn, the vehicle traveled in reverse at 24 miles per hour for 62 feet, with only a minor steering angle change, Lally said. A State Police trooper said that was “consistent” with a pedestrian strike, he said.
He said Read called O’Keefe at 12:35 a.m. and connected to O’Keefe’s WiFi a minute later. At 12:37 a.m., Read, “seething in rage,” tells O’Keefe “I [expletive] hate you” in a voicemail, Lally said.
At 12:55 a.m., Read texted O’Keefe “see you later,” and then left a voicemail that said “nobody knows where the [expletive] you are, you [expletive] pervert.”
She later texted O’Keefe, “your kids are [cucking] alone,” Lally said, adding that Read called her parents at 1:10 a.m. and then left O’Keefe a voicemail that she was going home, calling him a “[expletive] loser.”
There was no indication Read left O’Keefe’s place and went home to Mansfield, Lally said.
He said Read spoke to her parents at 4:42 a.m. and later told O’Keefe’s niece to call Jennifer McCabe.
Read’s first “version of events” was that she and O’Keefe fought and she left him at the Waterfall, Lally said. She later speculated that “he must have been hit by a plow.”
At 5:10 a.m., Read called Kerry Roberts, a close friend of O’Keefe’s, who started calling hospitals and called 911.
That’s something you would do, Lally said, if you didn’t know where O’Keefe was. Yet Read did not call 911.
She arrived at McCabe’s house around 5:45 a.m. and witnesses saw Read’s broken taillight, Lally said. He said Read’s SUV had earlier been seen headed back toward Fairview Road at 5:18 a.m.
He said Read, and “no one else” with her, saw O’Keefe’s body in the snow shortly after 6 a.m. at Fairview.
Read, “sitting in the back seat of the vehicle, knows exactly where” O’Keefe’s snow-covered body is located on the lawn, Lally said.
He said Read’s SUV arrived at the Canton police garage around 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 29.
Lally said Erin O’Keefe, John O’Keefe’s sister-in-law, testified that she was concerned for Read on Jan. 29, and Read told her, “I don’t think I’ll ever see you guys again.”
“Why?” Lally said. “If she didn’t kill John, why would she say that?”
He also reminded jurors about Read and O’Keefe’s argument during a trip to Aruba about a month before his death, when Read falsely accused him of kissing another woman.
O’Keefe told the mother of his godson on the Aruba trip that Read was “crazy” and also said, “it is what it is,” Lally said.
O’Keefe’s niece and nephew, Lally said, both testified to frequent fights between the couple and to O’Keefe’s efforts to end the relationship.
11:20 a.m. — Prosecutor Adam Lally delivers closing argument
Lally told jurors witnesses testified that Read shouted “I hit him” four times at the scene where John O’Keefe’s body was found.
“The defendant said, ‘I hit him, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him,” Lally said. He said Read told one firefighter “repeatedly” that she hit O’Keefe, and that Jennifer McCabe testified she initially said, “Did I hit him? Could I have hit him?”
But once they found O’Keefe’s body in the snow, McCabe heard Read repeatedly say “I hit him” and another witness heard her say, “this is all my fault, I did this,” Lally said.
“Those were the words that came from the defendant’s mouth,” Lally said. He said the defense has engaged in “obfuscation” to distract from Read’s guilt.
Lally said the texts of Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the case, were “unprofessional” and “inexcusable” but had “no bearing” on the integrity of the probe.
Lally noted the texts came from Proctor’s personal phone, which he described as a “safe space, a safe place for him to discuss” the case.
What you don’t see in the texts, Lally said, is any discussion of a cover-up or planting evidence.
“Because it didn’t happen,” Lally said. He said two things can be true at once: that Proctor’s texts were distasteful “and the defendant killed John O’Keefe.”
Lally said Read and O’Keefe began fighting on Jan. 28 by text and Read at one point asked if he was interested in someone else.
Lally said “multiple sources” also testified to the strain in the couple’s relationship in the weeks and months “leading up to John’s murder.”
Read called O’Keefe 18 times on the afternoon of Jan. 28 and continued to try to needle O’Keefe into a fight “that he doesn’t want to have,” Lally said.
Read texted O’Keefe that afternoon at one point that she was getting a drink, Lally said.
At 8:58 p.m., Lally said, Read had her first drink at McCarthy’s pub and had several more co*cktails in quick succession.
“What she’s doing is she’s getting shot glasses of vodka and then pouring them in the drink,” Lally said.
He said Read had two more drinks at a second bar, for a total of nine in about three hours. Lally said O’Keefe left the Waterfall at 12:11 a.m. with a co*cktail glass in his hand, and he spoke with Jennifer McCabe, whose sister lived at Fairview Road, on his way to the home.
11:15 a.m. — Read lawyer concludes his closing argument
A crash reconstruction specialist for the prosecution, Jackson said, made the “absurd claim” that John O’Keefe was struck in the arm by the SUV and projected “30 feet to the left ... before coming to his final resting place with his unbroken phone tucked neatly under his body.”
The independent reconstructionists, meanwhile, found the scientific evidence showed “John wasn’t hit by that car,” Jackson said.
Jackson said O’Keefe had no other substantial injuries beyond his head and right arm.
Yet the arm “suffered no break, no fracture,” and didn’t even bruise, Jackson said.
“His hands were bruised” while “covering up,” Jackson said.
“At some point during the altercation, the dog got ahold of him and was pulled away,” Jackson said.
Jackson said the “stench” of Michael Proctor, the lead investigator whose offensive texts about Read were the subject of testimony, can’t be ignored.
“How did he approach his job ... deviously looking for naked pictures of Karen Read,” Jackson said.
“He reduced her to an object” and “wished for her to commit suicide.”
“That’s how you rip a person’s life apart and sleep like a baby while doing it,” Jackson said.
He said the case is fundamentally about “exposing the truth,” which he said is “unflinching” and “everlasting.”
“You stand as the guardian of justice and the protector of justice,” Jackson said. “You have the most powerful tool known to American jurisprudence.”
“Karen Read is innocent,” he said. “Do justice and find her not guilty.”
11 a.m. — “That’s not sloppiness. That’s evidence manipulation,” Read lawyer says in closing argument
Read lawyer Alan Jackson said the first responding officers found no pieces of taillight at the scene, even though they used a leaf blower to clear the snow.
“Incredibly, over the course of the next three weeks” dozens of pieces of the taillight were found at the scene. “Some of them the size of a salad plate,” Jackson said.
State Police also opened evidence bags on the stand to show jurors all the pieces of broken taillight.
In one of the bags, he said, three pieces of plastic “became five pieces of plastic right before your eyes.”
“That’s not sloppiness,” Jackson said. “That’s evidence manipulation. ... Who had access to that taillight?”
Michael Proctor, the State Police investigator, walked by himself toward the right taillight on the video, with “binder in hand.”
Higgins’s key swipes also put him in the police department garage that day.
Jackson said prosecutors “don’t have any” evidence that Read’s SUV struck O’Keefe.
“John went into that house, that SUV was not damaged by hitting John,” Jackson said.
Lacking evidence, prosecutors have resorted to “character assassination” of Read, he said.
Jackson said the state medical examiner “would not even say that” O’Keefe’s death was a homicide and said his injuries were “not classical injuries” from a crash.
That alone is “reasonable doubt,” he said. But the defense also put its own medical experts on the stand who said O’Keefe’s arm injuries were likely caused by a dog.
In addition, independent crash reconstructionists “explained that John’s injuries were not caused” by being hit by Read’s SUV.
“They established that John O’Keefe was not struck by Karen Read’s vehicle, period,” Jackson said.
10:55 a.m. — State Police investigator built a “blue wall” to protect Albert family, Read lawyer says
Read lawyer Alan Jackson said the Albert family, who lived at the Fairview Road home where John O’Keefe’s body was found outside, “thought they hit the lottery” when Michael Proctor, a State Police investigator, was assigned to the case.
“A guy we go back with for decades,” Jackson said, describing their reaction.
He noted that one person texted Proctor that a witness wanted to get him “a gift.”
“Michael Proctor didn’t draw a thin blue line” but instead built a “blue wall” to protect the witnesses, Jackson said.
He said Proctor engaged in a “concerted effort” to falsify the time when Read’s SUV was seized. Jackson said Proctor attributed the inaccurate time to a “typo.”
Jackson said Proctor also tried to “hide human beings” from the defense team, referring to Brian Loughran, the plow driver who testified he didn’t see a body on the Alberts’ lawn at 2:30 a.m.
Proctor “never disclosed [Loughran’s] name in a single report,” Jackson said. “He hid him.”
He said a witness testified that glass found on Read’s bumper did not match glass found at the scene, but there was one piece that was “a perfect match.”
As for a hair found on the bumper that was consistent with O’Keefe’s DNA, Jackson called it a “magic hair” that remained on the bumper although Read’s SUV was towed for miles in a “raging blizzard.”
Jackson also told jurors that O’Keefe’s DNA was found on the exterior of the taillight, which would be expected. But no DNA was found in the interior of the light.
He said the video at the Canton police garage is missing “the exact time” when Read’s SUV was pulled in.
Jackson said the video footage was also inverted, so that what looked like the right side of the SUV was actually the left.
But a State Police official insisted the footage was “exactly the same, as if we’re stupid,” Jackson said.
10:35 a.m. — “There was no body on that lawn, period, at 2:30 a.m.,” Read lawyer says in closing arguments
Alan Jackson said Brian Higgins, an ATF agent, went to the Canton police station after leaving Fairview Road following the discovery of John O’Keefe’s body.
“Why go?” Jackson asked.
He said the Albert family’s dog, a German shepherd named Chloe, was removed from the home months after O’Keefe’s death, and a defense expert testified that O’Keefe’s arm injuries were most likely caused by a large dog.
At 2:22 a.m., Jackson said that Brian Albert called Higgins, and Higgins called him back soon after, records show.
He noted that both men claimed the calls were “butt dials” and even “answering calls as butt dials.”
Higgins testified that it was “impossible” to have a conversation in 22 seconds.
Five minutes later, Jennifer McCabe is Googling “how long to die in the cold,” he said.
“There is no innocent explanation for that Google search at 2:27 a.m,” he said.
Neither government expert who said the search was made at 6:27 a.m., as McCabe testified, could rule out that she actually made the search at 2:27 a.m., Jackson said.
“And then it was deleted,” he said of the search.
Three minutes later, plow driver Brian Loughran drove down Fairview Road and testified that “there was no body on the lawn.”
“There was no body on that lawn, period, at 2:30 a.m.,” Jackson said.
By 3:30 a.m., someone moved a Ford Edge “in front of the very area” where O’Keefe’s body would later be found, he said. Brian Albert owned an Edge and his basem*nt had a bulkhead door leading outside.
Read, meanwhile, “knows nothing else that was going on” early on Jan. 29.
“She’s sitting in the cold,” he said. “Naturally she’s perturbed” as she waited for O’Keefe to come out of the home, he said.
“Where is he? Why aren’t you answering John?” Jackson said. “But there’s still no answer. She does not know that something has happened to John.”
So Read left an angry voicemail on O’Keefe’s phone, he said.
Read “did not know” what happened to O’Keefe as she left the angry voicemails, Jackson said.
Then around 5 a.m., her anger turned to “panic and abject fear,” he said.
At 6:03 a.m., “her worst fears were realized” when she spotted O’Keefe’s body on the front lawn of Fairview.
“She reached out 53 times” before finding his body, Jackson said. “The Commonwealth wants you to believe that she murdered this man. ... It makes no sense.”
Shortly after 5 a.m., Read backed her SUV out of O’Keefe’s house and hit his car, Jackson said. That’s when she cracked her taillight.
Prosecutors “continually tried to tell you” that Read’s SUV came close to the car without hitting it, Jackson said. But Read’s lawyers showed a zoomed-in video of O’Keefe’s tire moving slightly, suggesting it had been struck.
When Read left O’Keefe’s house shortly after 5 a.m., her taillight was cracked but not completely damaged, he said.
10:30 a.m. — “We absolutely know that John was in the house,” Read lawyer Alan Jackson says in closing argument
Jackson said Jennifer McCabe, whose sister lived at the Fairview Road home, falsely testified to seeing Read’s SUV on the street outside between 12:30 am and 12:50 a.m.
Brian Albert, who owned the Fairview Road home, and his friend Brian Higgins arrived “drunk” at the Waterfall bar earlier that evening, Jackson said.
Higgins had exchanged flirtatious texts with Read but Read didn’t pay attention to him at the Waterfall, Jackson said. Higgins “didn’t like being ignored,” he said.
Yet weirdly, Higgins appears to try to coax O’Keefe to the afterparty at Fairview Road, Jackson said. Jackson noted that Higgins texted O’Keefe “you coming here” at 12:20 a.m.
And, Jackson said, Albert and Higgins were play-fighting at the bar “just minutes” before O’Keefe arrived on Fairview Road.
At some point at the house, Jackson said, Higgins and Albert left the others and went to another area of the home.
“We absolutely know that John was in the house,” Jackson said. “We know that Brian Higgins and Brian Albert excused themselves. ... How long does it take to have a fight?”
He asked jurors how long it would’ve taken Higgins to tell O’Keefe that “your girl’s been texting me.”
10:25 a.m. — Read lawyer Alan Jackson continues his closing argument
Jackson said everyone who testified that John O’Keefe never entered the Fairview home had ties to the homeowner, Brian Albert, who like O’Keefe was a Boston police officer.
Jackson said health data on O’Keefe’s phone showed him going up and down stairs shortly before his death.
He said prosecutors want the jury to ignore the Apple Health data, even though a defense expert said the data “aligns perfectly.”
“Someone holding John’s phone takes another 36 steps” at 12:32 a.m., Jackson said, noting Read had left two minutes earlier and connected to the WiFi at John O’Keefe’s home at 12:36 a.m.
“Don’t be fooled,” Jackson said. “John walked into that house.”
He said two other witnesses testified to passing Read’s SUV and seeing her alone in the vehicle.
O’Keefe “was nowhere in sight,” since he was inside the Albert home, he said.
10:15 a.m. — Read lawyer Alan Jackson delivers his closing argument
Jackson told jurors that authorities want them to “look the other way” in their effort to “deceive you.” He said law enforcement wants the jury to ignore the investigators’ conflicts of interest and myriad other issues.
“You’re the only thing standing between Karen Read and the tyranny of injustice,” Jackson said.
He noted that State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the case, texted that officials would put “serious charges on the girl.”
He said that police lied “over and over and over” in the case, manipulating evidence and exhorting the jury to “pay no attention, look the other way.”
Jackson said the jury saw a “cover-up” unfold “right before your eyes.”
He said police and key witnesses got rid of evidence and phones, questioned witnesses improperly, conducted a shoddy investigation at the crime scene, and lied in reports.
“Pick your patsy and pin it on the girl,” Jackson said, describing the mindset of investigators. Jackson said prosecutors attacked Read’s character in an effort to “vilify her” and told jurors about her arguments with John O’Keefe. He said witnesses indicated that Read and O’Keefe were “getting along” as a “loving couple” on the night of his death.
10 a.m. — A juror was dismissed after a lengthy sidebar
The circ*mstances were not immediately clear. That’s the third juror to step aside from the case since the trial began in late April, but Judge Beverly Cannone had seated multiple alternates. A jury of 12 will ultimately decide the case.
9:55 a.m. — Three prominent witnesses in the case are sitting behind John O’Keefe’s brother in the courtroom
Brian Albert, who owned the Fairview Road home where O’Keefe’s body was found outside, his nephew Colin Albert, and his sister-in-law Jennifer McCabe are in the courtroom.
Read, alone at the defense table, leaned forward, tapping her hand lightly on the table as she waited for a lengthy sidebar session to wrap up. Behind her in the gallery, her father, Bill, sat behind her in almost the same position. A large air conditioner in the small courtroom buzzed as Judge Beverly Cannone talked out of earshot with prosecution and defense lawyers at her bench — a familiar sight in the trial.
8:30 a.m. — Read arrives at courthouse
Throngs of supporters snapped pictures of Read as she got out of a black SUV. Lori Risendes, 42, came with her friend, Nicole Tomaneck, from Hudson. It’s their first day attending the trial, but they have watched it every day.
If Read is acquitted by the jury?
“Call the duck boats and cue the parade,” Risendes said.
Next to Risendes and Tomaneck stood Jen Rose, 39. Rose said she became captivated by the trial because of her mom and believes that Read has been wrongly accused.
“We’ve all gone out and drank with our friends and our boyfriends, and we go home and we’re not accused of murder,” she said. “It’s horrific, really.”
A woman walked up and down the sidewalk, waving a handheld American flag above her head and telling people to give Read and her lawyers space.
“They’re going to work, they’re going to get it done today,” she called out to cheers.
Read, flanked by camera crews, lawyers, and family members, walked down a sidewalk lined with supporters.
“Good job Karen,” some people called out. “Mrs. Read, we love you,” another woman yelled.
A reporter asked Read what she is hoping for on Tuesday as she approached the courthouse steps.
“Relief. Justice,” she said.
Lindsey Smith, 35, posed for a photo outside the courthouse after Read entered.
“No photos,” a state trooper told her. But Smith wasn’t going to miss her opportunity, given that she had come all the way from Frisco, Texas, for this.
Smith arrived in Massachusetts Monday night. She had planned to arrive Wednesday, but when the defense rested its case she “immediately” changed her flight.
“I get emotional about it. I couldn’t even sleep last night, I was so anxious,” Smith said. “She’s already been through enough, I can only imagine what this has done to her.”
7:45 a.m. — Nearly 100 Read supporters have gathered outside the buffer zone around Norfolk Superior Court. Many waved American flags or pink pom-poms.
“Witness to justice,” a message on one pink shirt read.
“Factually innocent” read another. Passing cars honked their support.
Others held signs stating “Justice for Officer John O’Keefe,” “Read Strong,” and “Honk for Proctor for Prison,” a reference to Michael Proctor, the lead investigator on the case.
7 a.m. — Crowd outside courthouse grows
Paul Christoforo, 56, a restaurant manager from Abington, said he sees himself, his eight children, and his ten grandchildren reflected in Read’s circ*mstances.
“Karen Read could be any one of them … any one of us,” Christoforo said. “This is my first time ever protesting anything in my life … I’ve never been moved until this case.”
Christoforo is among many Read supporters who are riveted by the case and view it as a symbol of a larger pattern of public corruption.
“I’ve known our government is corrupt. This case proves it,” said Scott McGuinness, 59. “This is just the tip of the iceberg.”
McGuinness, who lives in Shirley, wore a green “Free Karen Read” shirt and tied pink bandanas around his neck.
“CPD + MSP need a reboot,” read a sign on his truck, referring to the Canton police department and the Massachusetts State Police.
6:45 a.m. — Read supporters gather
Some set up camping chairs and posted signs on the open trunks of their cars, emulating a tailgate outside a sports game. Many have been here every day of the trial, sometimes arriving at dawn. Others have traveled from out of state, as far away as Florida and Michigan.
Paul Christoforo, said he expects 400 to 500 people to gather outside the courthouse on Tuesday. Many Read supporters predicted that the jury will deliver a verdict this afternoon, not long after lawyers deliver their closing arguments. It should be an easy decision, they said.
“There’s no doubt in the world she didn’t do it,” said Dennis Sweeney, 68, who lives in Canton. He was dressed up as Judge Beverly Cannone, wearing a blonde wig and black gown.
“You’d have to be a fool to think she did it,” he said.
5:15 a.m. — Anticipation builds outside courthouse, hours before trial to resume
With lawyers slated to deliver closing arguments Tuesday morning, a handful of pink-clad Karen Read supporters began gathering on the sidewalk outside the courthouse. News vans lined the street. A blue pickup truck paused as it drove by the small crowd, honking its horn.
“Free Karen Read!” the driver called out before continuing on his way.
Globe correspondents Natalie La Roche Pietri and Madison Hahamy contributed to this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Madeline Khaw can be reached at maddie.khaw@globe.com. Follow her @maddiekhaw. Sean Cotter can be reached at sean.cotter@globe.com. Follow him @cotterreporter.
