Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Karen Read Trial: Top 9 Moments From Opening Statements or Top 9 Moments From Opening Statements In Boyfriend Cop Murder Trial

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

More than two years after Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe was found dead in the yard of a fellow police officer in Canton, Massachusetts, the murder trial for his girlfriend, Karen Read, has begun. Prosecutor Adam Lally told the jury Read is a murderer who hit O'Keefe with her SUV and left him to die in the snow after an argument. But Read's attorney, David Yannetti, told jurors Read is the victim of a vast cover-up spearheaded by a state trooper. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy details 9 top moments from opening statements and testimony from O'Keefe's brother in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.If you’ve used Incognito mode in Google’s Chrome browser, find out if you have a claim in a few clicks by visiting https://incognitoclaims.com/crimefixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Andrea Burkhart / Criminal Defense AttorneyCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoAudio Editing - Brad MaybeGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. We love you, Karen! We love you, Karen! Karen Reed arriving for the first day of her murder trial in the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe. Karen, do you think you're going to get a fair trial? A crowd of her supporters gathering outside the courthouse as usual as prosecutors tell jurors that Reed is a murderer.

But the defense says Reed is a victim of a massive police frame-up. Karen Reed was framed. Her car never struck John O'Keefe. She did not cause his death. I'm laying out the top moments from day one of Karen Reed's murder trial and opening statements. Thanks for joining me for Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy.

After more than two years, the trial of Karen Reed for the death of her boyfriend, John O'Keefe, is underway. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts calls Karen Reed a killer, while the defense says she's a victim of a police frame job. Second-degree murder is, of course, the most serious charge that Karen Reed faces. She also faces charges of vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence, and leaving the scene. Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Adam Lally began his opening statement by telling the jury about

who John O'Keefe was to humanize him. He also told them about the fact that he was raising his niece and nephew as his own. He was the son of John O'Keefe Jr. and Margaret or Peggy O'Keefe Jr. and Margaret O'Keefe. He was a brother to Paul O'Keefe and to his sister, Kristen Furbush. Kristen was married until John's brother-in-law was a man named Stephen Furbush, and they had two children who were very young in 2013. Now in 2013, Kristen, unfortunately, tragically, passed away, succumbing to cancer in November of 2013. Within months of that, Mr. O'Keefe's brother-in-law and Kristen's husband, Stephen, passed away as well. Now, initially, when John O'Keefe's sister passed away, sort of the initial plan for that situation was that John O'Keefe was going to move in with Stephen Florbush and kids and assist as far as raising them. And then when Stephen passed away a few months after his wife, before those plans could be finalized, Finally, Don O'Keefe then moved in with his niece and nephew and assumed a parental role and assumed legal guardianship with respect to both of those children. This is a law and crime legal alert.

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Lally also described the relationship between Karen Reed and John O'Keefe they had met years earlier. Eventually, the defendant, Karen Reid, joins them at this establishment in Carthage, sometime just before 9 p.m. Now, John O'Keefe and Karen Reid had met sometime in 2004. They dated briefly during that time and reconnected sometime around March of 2020, around the time of the COVID-19 sort of pandemic shutdown. They had started dating around that time period, or reconnected during that time period, and the defendant had stayed at the house in Canton several nights a week.

She had helped out a couple of children. In the month or so leading up to Mr. O'Keefe's death, the relationship's out. You will see text messages between Mr. O'Keefe and Ms. Reed to that effect. You will hear testimony from the children, from John's niece and nephew, in regard to things they observed within that relationship. On January 28, 2022, surveillance footage captured Reed and O'Keefe at a bar enjoying drinks with friends. Then Lally said they planned to go to the home of another Boston police officer, Brian Albert. That home was on Fairview Road. A number of people had planned to gather there to just hang out. From their position, I anticipate the testimony that you're going to hear is that

Heather Maxson from that pickup truck observes a male passenger and a female operator when the pickup truck operator flashes those lights and the vehicles are facing each other before they pull out. What you'll hear also, I anticipate from all three of those individuals in the pickup and Julie Nagel who comes out to the pickup to talk to her brother is that no one ever exits that vehicle. There are no footprints around that vehicle. There's no damage that they observed to that vehicle at that time. Again, it's just started to snow and so I'm sticking really too much at this point. Julie Nagel has a conversation with her brother, decides that she's going to stay at the house longer. So the rain comes for a ride home, and the pickup truck leaves from that point. As they

pass by, they observe a female operator matching the description of the defendant. From all of those people within that house that evening, none of them at any point in time observed John O'Keefe come into the house. They see the vehicle

out front, they see the vehicle pull away, and they just assume that they left, that no one was coming. So Lally says no one in the house on Fairview Road ever saw John O'Keefe enter the house. O'Keefe was expected to arrive sometime after midnight. Then around 5 a.m., Lally said that Karen Reed started calling people. We hear testimony from other individuals who were at the house that night, including Colin Albert, who was Julian Christopher Albert's son. He's also a cousin of Brian Albert Jr. who was having a people over for his birthday. He's leaving the house around the time that the initial people coming back from the waterfall, which includes the homeowners, Mr. Higgins, are sort of coming into the house. At that point, Colin Albert was leaving. He's getting picked up by a young lady named Allison McCabe, who was Jennifer and Matthew McCabe's daughter, who's also friends with Colin Albert

and also cousins of Brian Albert Jr., who's helped him to home, celebrating his work. As I mentioned, you'll hear testimony from Matthew McCabe and from Jennifer in regard to their observations that particular evening, both at the waterfall as well as at the residence on Sarah View Road. And then you'll hear testimony in regard to a phone call. A phone call that Jennifer McCabe receives from John O'Keefe's niece at approximately 4.53 in the morning. She answers that phone call, speaks to the niece briefly, and the niece hands the phone over to the defendant. Now, we'll hear testimony from the niece as well at about 4.30 in the morning or so.

The defendant came into her room in a frantic state, saying that Mr. O'Keefe had not come home the night before. So initially, when the defendant is talking to Ms. McCabe, she indicates to Ms. McCabe that the last time she saw Mr. O'Keefe was at the waterfall. Eventually, as Ms. McCabe is waking up, she reminds the defendant that she not only saw them leave the waterfall around the same time as herself, but also saw the vehicle, the defendant's vehicle, outside of the home on Fairview Road. Eventually, the defendant, while driving around, so I mean, as far as other testimony and related

testimony as it develops, but she's driving around on that morning, she's calling a bunch of, a number of different people, friends of Mr. O'Keefe, she's calling Mr. O'Keefe herself. She also calls Ms. Roberts. So Kelly Roberts receives a call about 5 a.m. from the defendant indicating that Mr. O'Keefe did not come home, indicating that he got hit by a plow or that he must be dead. Lally then described what he claims Reed told firefighters

who responded to Fairview Road after John O'Keefe was found mortally injured in the snow. Several firefighters from the Kent Fire Department you'll hear from in regard to their observations his eyes and other injuries that he observed. They observed redness from the cold that he had been lying out in for some time. You'll hear the testimony from the firefighters, Anthony Fermati, Matthew Kelly, Francis Walsh, Katie McLaughlin, and Greg Woodward. At least from three of those firefighters, your testimony anticipates detailing statements that the defendant made to them. They had asked about the origination of

some of those injuries. The defendant stated repeatedly, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him. Lally's position is that Karen Reed and John O'Keefe's relationship was essentially over, that they got into a huge argument by Reed's own admission to others and that she backed into him, throwing him into the snow and leaving him to die. One piece of evidence that will be hotly contested in this case is a Google search that includes a typo. It says, how long does it take to die in this cold? While they're waiting there, approximately 6.23, 6.24 a.m. during a conversation with the defendant. The defendant asks Ms. McCabe to look up on her phone how long someone has to be out in the cold to die from hypothermia or something to that effect. And you'll hear some dispute as to when that search was made.

You'll hear testimony from three different forensic attraction experts, Dr. Nicholas Greeno, Ms. Jessica Hyde, and Mr. Ian Whiffen. You'll hear about a lot of these things called extraction reports from cell phones. And the extraction reports are done with a program called Cellphone. Mr. Whiffen is someone who writes that software for Cellphone. I anticipate you'll hear from each of their testimonies that Google search that was done on Ms. McCabe's phone was done at the same time Graham Michigan McCabe's defendant requested to do it, and that at 623 and 624. Good morning. the cave, the firefighters, and the responding police officers about a repeated phraseology that the defendants stated while they're asking again and again, regardless of if he's dead or dead.

That Google search has been fiercely debated over the last two years. The defense condemns that Karen Reed had nothing to do with the search, claiming it happened hours before 6.23 a.m. at actually 2.27 a.m. That was over two years ago. Karen didn't know then what you will learn during this trial. Karen didn't know that Brian Albert's sister-in-law, Jennifer McCabe, left the after-hours party at Brian Albert's house sometime after Karen pulled away. She didn't know that after Jennifer McCabe dropped off some people elsewhere, she returned to her own home. Karen didn't know that Jennifer McCabe climbed some stairs in her home and eventually made it into

her bedroom with her cell phone. Karen didn't know that Jennifer McCabe settled in at 2.27 in the morning on January 29, 2022 and typed a Google search that she would later delete. 2.27 in the morning was over three hours before John O'Keefe's body was found on Brian Albert's lawn. 2.27 was over three hours before anyone knew or suspected that John O'Keefe's body was found on Brian Albert's lawn. 227 was over three hours before anyone knew or suspected that John O'Keefe was missing or hurt or in trouble. And at 227 in the morning, you will learn that with no one watching her, thinking she was alone with her thoughts, not worrying that anyone would know what she was doing. Jennifer McCabe typed in the following Google search. How long to die in the cold? Now, she misspelled the first word, so the actual search was how long to die in the cold, but you'll get the point.

You will ask yourself, why would somebody Google how long does it take for someone to die in the cold? Unless that person knew someone who either was in that situation or would be in that situation. The prosecution also maintains that Reed knew where O'Keefe was and led a group of people, including Jennifer McCabe, to O'Keefe's body and then tried to act as if she was trying to save his life. in people's difficult throughout the course of this trial as well. So eventually the defendant comes to Ms. McCabe's home, indicates at some point prior to that that she has cracked hell. Ms. McCabe then gets in the driver's seat due to the defendant's frantic state. Ms. Roberts is there as well. Ms. Roberts follows Ms. McCabe driving the defendant's vehicle back to Mr. O'Hugh's residence in Meadows Ab, checks on the niece.

The defendant then shows both Ms. Roberts and Ms. McCabe the damage to her right rear taillight, which is essentially missing a number of different pieces from that right rear taillight. They then proceed off to drive and see if they can locate Mr. O'Keefe. The defendant is insistent that they go to that residence on Fairfield Road. Again, they're driving down there in the dark, in the snow, in the wind, in the blizzard. They approach towards that residence. There is one person. So they're seated within the vehicle.

This is Ms. Roberts. She's driving. Mrs. McCabe is in the front passenger seat. The defendant is in the rear passenger seat. The defendant is the only one who sees Mr. O'Keefe. He yells and screams at Ms. Roberts to stop the vehicle. Ms. Roberts and Ms. McCabe, I anticipate, will testify that they did not see Mr. O'Keefe, not only as they were driving past him, but even after they got out of the vehicle,

until the defendant gets out of the back seat and makes a beeline, right over to where Mr. O'Keefe's car was. Lally then described forensic evidence that he says links Reed to O'Keefe's death. Among the items that they locate is a sneaker. Mr. O'Keefe is transported across where he's found to only have one sneaker on his feet. They find the other sneaker in that area of the body. They find various pieces of taillight. And as is wont to do, over the course of the following days, temperatures rise, a rainstorm that comes in, and the snow melts. Over those successive days, there are additional pieces of taillights. From these different pieces, Ms. Hardin also locates a cocktail glass

that's located on the bumper or the rear area of that scene. And she locates a human hair on the back of that defendant's vehicle as well. Now, the cocktail glass on the bumper, you'll also see a surveillance video from the waterfall. And Ms. Roquise is observed on that surveillance video, essentially walking out of the waterfall with a cocktail glass in his right hand. Same right hand that has minor injuries to it and the same right hand that's attached to his right arm that has the abrasions and lacerations that are observed by the paramedics, that are observed by the doctors at Good Samaritan and observed by the medical examiner as well. We'll hear testimony from another analyst, Christina Hanley, about the forensic consistency between a drinking glass that was in the defendant's bumper and the drinking

glass pieces that were found on scene 34th Avenue. We'll hear her testimony in regard to pieces of red and clear plastic that were microscopic in size that were found within Mr. O'Keefe's clothing. Consistent, in her opinion, I anticipate she'll testify with the same pieces of plastic contained within the same tail light. We'll hear from an Ashley Ballard, who works for the lab as well, and how she fit the various pieces of broken tail light from the scene together over that tail light housing, finding them to be consistent with each other as well. We'll hear testimony from Andre Porto, who does essentially DNA analysis for the lab. Samples that were DNA samples that were taken from the taillight, from the clothes of Mr. O'Keefe,

the broken drinking glass that were consistent with Mr. O'Keefe. Those items were also sent, the taillight DNA was also sent to the Kennedy Lab, Boding Technologies located in Washington, Virginia. The tail light DNA was also sent to the defendant lab, voting technologies located in Washington, Virginia. You'll hear from an analyst there, Mr. Nicholas Bradford, indicating that the DNA on the defendant's tail light, his opinion is consistent with that of Mr. O'Keefe, and inconsistent with Trooper Proctor and Sergeant Buchanek,

who were the two preliminary investigators and primary investigators. You'll also hear from Ms. Tess Char from that Bodie Laboratories in regard to some mitochondrial movement that she examined in regard to that hail that Ms. Hartnett found on the Buffalo Park and her opinion that it was consistent with that of Ms. Dorf's as well. Then, of course, it was the defense's turn. Attorney David Yannetti laid out the defense theory of the case. Karen Reed was framed. Her car never struck John O'Keefe. She did not cause his death.

And that means that somebody else did. You will learn that it was no accident that John O'Keefe was found dead on the front lawn of 34 Fairview Road in Kent on January 29th, 2022. You will learn that at that address lived a well-known and well-connected law enforcement family in Kent, the Alberts. Because the Alberts were involved and because they had close connections to the investigators in this case,

Karen Reed was framed for a murder she did not commit. David Yannetti is a very skilled defense attorney. He used to be a prosecutor. He says Karen Reed was not part of the in crowd in Canton. And because Brian Albert's brother worked for the Canton PD, there was a conflict of interest. So Massachusetts State Police led the investigation. But Yannetti said that didn't really matter because the lead detective, Michael Proctor, was biased against Reed from the get-go. Called Karen Reed names you would reserve only for your worst enemies. He told his friends that he hoped that she would kill herself.

He told his friends that he had seized her cell phone. And you will learn that he knew he shouldn't have been accessing any content on her cell phone because he knew there would likely be attorney-client communications on it between Karen and me at that time. He knew that he was supposed to wait for a search warrant or other permission from a judge in order to go through that phone. But you'll learn that he went through the phone anyway, without permission. And you'll know that he did, because he told his high school buddies that he was searching her phone for nude photos of Karen Reed. And he was disappointed he hadn't found any yet. That is the professional and unbiased investigator who was chosen to lead the investigation into the death of John O'Keefe. Yannetti pointed to things he said showed bias on Proctor's part and a desire to frame Reed. You'll learn that right from the jump, Michael Proctor predetermined the outcome of this case. Never stepped foot inside the Albert home on January 29th, 2022.

Never checked out whether there were any signs of struggle inside that home. He never called for crime scene technicians and other specialists to look for blood or other trace evidence within the home. He never asked Brian Albert for permission to go in the home and take a look around. Michael Proctor never applied for a search warrant to go in that home. Instead, he focused immediately and exclusively on Karen Reed, the outsider. You will learn that no one in the Proctor family has ever called the Reed family

their second family. The defense maintains that Reed actually backed into O'Keefe's car that morning as she left the home they shared to go look for him. You can see her backing up her Lexus SUV on home security footage, coming very close to O'Keefe's car, and then pulling out of the snowy driveway. It was, after all, a blizzard. So she got back into her Lexus. She backed up out of the garage to leave the driveway. And when she did, the right rear taillight of her Lexus struck John's parked vehicle in the driveway, and her taillight cracked. That was the same taillight that the prosecution now claims was broken outside the Albert residence hours earlier at 12.38.

But we have video evidence that the taillight was actually broken at 5 a.m., many hours after the prosecution needs that taillight to have been broken. There is, of course, no video of the taillight being broken at Brian Albert's house. You will eventually conclude that's because the taillight was not broken there. Yannetti also poured cold water on the idea that the relationship between O'Keefe and Reed was so damaged that it was essentially over and ended with a blowout fight in front of the house on Fairview Road. Commonwealth will instead try to persuade you that Karen Reed supposedly had a motive to kill John O'Keefe because they were not getting along. You'll hear about their trip to Aruba over New

Year's Eve and that Karen was upset that John had been flirting with another woman. And you will hear that Karen considered exploring her options after that trip, which led her to a get-together at one point with APF federal agent Brian Higgins, although that never went anywhere. But you'll also hear that in January of 2022, after the Aruba trip and not long before January 28th and 29th, John O'Keefe was making long-term plans with Karen, including a family trip with her and the kids, and also another trip with Karen and another couple for months into the future. And you'll see video of how John and Karen were interacting on the night in question. You'll see for yourself how they looked at each other on the video with the waterfall that night. Nobody who saw them that night saw anything wrong. There was nothing wrong.

I mean, like any couples, occasionally they would bicker or disagree, but you will hear zero evidence of any domestic violence in that home whatsoever. John never raised a hand in anger toward Karen and Karen never raised a hand in anger toward John. That simply wasn't who they are. And what about John O'Keefe's injuries? Yannetti says the injuries were not caused by Karen Reed's car. You will learn that there are other major problems with the Commonwealth's theory. You'll learn that when John O'Keefe was found, he did not look like he had been hit by a car. You'll learn that he looked to have been attacked and beaten up. You'll learn that John

O'Keefe was a large six-foot-two man who, if positioned behind a Lexus SUV, would have had his torso completely exposed to the rear of that vehicle, including to the taillight. You'll learn that no part of his torso was injured. There was no bruising, no redness, no scratches, no punctures. You'll learn that his chest and hips and legs were pristine, despite the Commonwealth's contention that he was hit by a 6,000-pound vehicle. The evidence will show that what was not pristine was his right arm. You will take one look at that arm and you will conclude that a car did not cause those injuries. The injuries to John O'Keefe's arm appear to be consistent with scratch marks and claw marks, marks that make it look as though

an animal had attacked his arm. But you won't have to rely just on your common sense when you look at those photos. You'll hear from an expert forensic pathologist who is world renowned, who has personally conducted thousands of autopsies. And he will testify that those marks are consistent with scratch and claw marks and bite marks from an animal, including a German Shepherd. You'll learn that on January 29th of 2022, Brian Albert's family dog, Chloe, was a German Shepherd. You'll learn that Brian Albert has admitted that this dog is not good around strangers. You'll learn that on January 29th of 2022, John O'Keefe would have been a stranger to that dog.

And you'll learn that Chloe had been the beloved family dog for the Alberts for seven years. The Albert family loved Chloe. Strangely, as we discuss this dog today, the Albert family doesn't have its beloved Chloe anymore. Yannetti also addressed Reed's cracked taillights. You will learn that there is no competent evidence that Karen Reed's taillight shattered at Brian Albert's house, she drove back to John's house on Meadows Ave. Across town in Canton.

At John's home, where he lived with his two adopted children. Karen was drifting in and out of sleep. But she woke up for good in a panic sometime around 4 a.m. because John hadn't come home. And that was not like him at all. He had never done that before. Karen had a sinking feeling that something was wrong. Something was seriously wrong. And the first witness for the Commonwealth actually happened to be John O'Keefe's brother. Now, as far as your relationship with the defendant, Ms. Reed, prior to January 29, 2022, how would you characterize it? I thought we had a good relationship.

I held her in very high regard. I thought she was a good influence on my niece and nephew. I appreciated all the help that she was providing to my brother with the kids. We'd go out together as couples a couple times. She became very friendly with my wife, but I'd say overall we had a good relationship. As far as those positive feelings that you had in relation to the defendant prior to January 29, 2022, had you expressed those to either the defendant or any member of her family? Yes. So Christmas Eve of 2021 was the first time I met her parents.

My brother hosted Christmas Eve at his house. I met Mr. and Mrs. Reed. I offered to help Mrs. Reed carry some things in from her car. And as we were walking to the car, I said, I just want to tell you, I think your daughter's great. I think I'm very appreciative of what she's done for the kids and helping my brother. I want to bring in criminal defense attorney Andrea Burkhart. She's been following the Karen Reid case pretty closely.

What were your thoughts on opening statements, Andrea? Well, I thought there was quite a distinct contrast between the approaches that we saw from the Commonwealth and the approach that we saw from the defense. My personal reaction to the Commonwealth's case was it simply didn't do a very good job, I thought, of laying out for the jury a real roadmap of what they should expect to see and what was going to be important in the case, like what specific details were going to matter when it came down to making their decision. I think the defense did a much better job of being able to present the theme of their case very clearly and explicitly. Karen Reed was framed, was the opening words of the defense opening. So that's the kind of thing that typically is going to stick with the

jury. And when they're evaluating the evidence, they're going to be able to evaluate how well does it measure up to this expectation that's been set with that very simple sentence. Because we didn't get the same kind of refined expectation from the Commonwealth, I think they might find it harder to follow the Commonwealth's case. That's it for this edition of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with us. We'll see you back here next time.