The Karen Read defense team released their witness list, which is 14 people larger than for the first murder trial last year — and once again, it includes disgraced Trooper Michael Proctor’s wife and sister, who have recently been speaking out about the case.
The defense list for the trial scheduled to start April 1 includes very familiar names, including the Albert and McCabe families, who play a large role in the defense’s theory of a conspiracy to frame their client. They’re also planning to bring the same defense experts, minus two, as listed last year, including the two experts from ARCCA, Inc., who were part of recent controversy in pretrial hearings.
Read, 45, of Mansfield is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence, and leaving the scene of an accident causing death. She’s accused of killing Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, her boyfriend of about two years at the time, on Jan. 29, 2022.
She was tried on those charges last year but that ended in mistrial after jurors returned three notes indicating that they could not come to a unanimous decision.
The defense contends that the jury was actually only hung on the manslaughter charge based on post-trial admissions by five jurors and have mounted efforts for the case to be tossed on a Double Jeopardy claim. That effort has failed before Norfolk County Superior Court Judge Beverly J. Cannone, who was the trial judge; the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which upheld Cannone’s denial of the motion; and by Boston-based federal court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV, who denied the defense’s request for habeas corpus.
Read’s team filed an appeal of Saylor’s decision to the federal First Circuit Court of Appeals, which is pending.
Highlights of the defense list include Brian Albert, a Boston cop and the then-owner of 34 Fairview Road in Canton where O’Keefe froze and died on the front lawn, as well as his wife Nicole Albert and other members of the Albert family.
The defense pushed the idea ahead of and during the last trial that O’Keefe actually made it into the home for a party after the bars closed and that he was then beaten to death inside and then placed on the front lawn to frame Read. They suggest that Brian Albert could have taken part in that as well as his friend ATF Agent Brian Higgins, also on the list, who had a documented recent history of mutual flirting with Read.
They also say that marks on O’Keefe’s arm indicate a dog attack and point toward the Albert’s German shepherd Chloe as a likely culprit. They’ve included on their witness list Dr. Marie Russell to testify to that aspect.
The McCabe family, headed at least for the defense theory by Jennifer McCabe, whose grilling on the stand last year was a dramatic moment of the trial, is included on the list. The defense posits that McCabe is in on the conspiracy and performed a Google search for “hos (sic) long to die in cold,” at 2:27 a.m., hours before O’Keefe was discovered either dead or dying outside, indicating she knew of the situation. They’re bringing on digital forensics expert Richard Green to testify to that.
Another highlight of the list is Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey, who they included on the list for the last trial but did not call. They also include O’Keefe’s dad, John O’Keefe Sr., on both lists but did not call him last time.
Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, who was fired from the force Wednesday morning after being “relieved of duty” immediately after Read’s trial and then suspended without pay, is on the defense list. He was the lead investigator of the case and his two days on the stand last year show what the MSP declared were “biased in his dealings with a homicide suspect and/or brought otherwise himself and the Massachusetts State Police into disrepute.”
Among the texts he sent to friends and colleagues in the early stage of the investigation include the declaration of “no nudes so far” on Read’s phone, that she’s both a “babe” and a “whack job” and that she should “kill herself.” This last sentiment was sent to his sister, Courtney Proctor, who is on the defense witness list. Proctor’s wife Elizabeth Proctor is also on the list.
This is a developing story.
- Brian Albert
- Caitlin Albert
- Christopher Albert
- Colin Albert
- Julie Albert
- Kevin Albert
- Nicole Albert
- Michael Wagner
- Sheryl Waugh
- Paul Mackowski
- Leslie Bernstein
- Rebecca Baizen
- Officer Nicholas Barros
- Trooper Evan Brent
- Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik
- Laurie Cahill
- Trooper Zachary Clark
- Christopher Curran
- Kerri Curran
- Nicholas Curran
- Richard D’Antuono
- Officer Kelly Dever
- Stephanie Devlin
- Trooper David Dicicco
- Patrick Haggerty
- Maureen Hartnett
- Brian Albert Jr.
- Brian Higgins
- Louis Jutrus
- Trooper Connor Keefe
- Matthew Kelly
- Karina Kolokithas
- Nicholas Kolokithas
- Teri Kun
- Sergeant Michael Lank
- Brian Loughran
- Heather Maxon
- Allison McCabe
- Jennifer McCabe
- Matthew McCabe
- Lance Mello
- Ryan Nagel
- Steve Nelson
- Andre Porto
- Hollie Price
- Trooper Kathleen Prince
- Elizabeth Proctor
- Trooper Michael Proctor
- Kerry Roberts
- Wendell Robery
- Steven Ridge
- Heriberto Hernandez
- Marc Lopilato
- Alfred Lopilato
- Angela Malvone
- Lt. Brian Tully
- Courtney Proctor
- Tristan Morris
- Jean DeMulis
- Mary Souza
- Ashley Bell
- Mike Rushworth
- Matthew Amory
- Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey
- Thomas Beatty
- Erin Beatty
- Meghan Mariani
- Thomas Martin
- John O’Keefe Sr.
- Lt. John Fanning
- Matthew Kelsch
- Thomas Keleher
- Annie Cheung
- Helena Rafferty (Canton Police chief)
- Irini Scordi-Bello (medical examiner)
- Trooper Jeffrey Kostkowski
- Trooper Joseph Paul
- Sgt. Paul J. DiGiampietro
- Sgt. Paul Gallagher
- Chris Van Ee, PhD
- Richard Green
- Daniel Wolfe, PhD
- Andrew Rentschler, PhD
- Maggie Gaffney
- Derek Ellington
- Michael Easter
- Matthew Erickson
- Matthew DiSogra, MS, PE
- Elizabeth Laposata, MD, FCAP, FASCP
- Dr. Marie Russell, MD, CCHP-P
- Garret Wing