The sixth day of the murder trial of Karen Read is set to begin at 9 a.m. for a half day today.
Read, 44, of Mansfield, faces charges of second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter and leaving the scene of a collision causing the death of John O’Keefe, a 16-year Boston cop and her boyfriend of about two years at the time.
A total of 14 witnesses have offered testimony in the case so far, though a 15th was also questioned Monday without the jury present, due to some concerns the defense had about possible bias in the case, and is expected to testify either today or sometime this week.
The first week was largely dedicated to first responders to the scene, with the first two Canton Police officers on the scene, Officer Steven Saraf and Officer Stephen Mullaney, as well as eight Canton Fire Department paramedics providing testimony to what they saw at the scene. All of them described Read pacing, crying, and sometimes “hysterical” over the unresponsive body of her boyfriend and accompanied by two women: Jennifer McCabe and Kerry Roberts. The responders did have differing recollections of what Read said at the same, with several testifying that she made incriminating statements like “I hit him” and others remembering just cries of woe and misery.
Two more responders to the scene were featured on Monday. One of them, Canton PD Sgt. Sean Goode, was the third officer at the scene and had been working the department’s dispatch room at the time two calls came in. The first was just before 5 a.m., when Roberts reported that O’Keefe had not come home after a night out and that Read was worried about him. About an hour later, McCabe placed a call saying that O’Keefe was unresponsive and that “I think he’s passed away.”
At this call, Goode testified, he decided to place the dispatch room in a colleague’s hands and responded to the scene.
Later that morning, Lt. Gallagher responded to the scene and oversaw crime scene operations.
At the end of Monday, attorneys questioned Canton Police Sgt. Michael Lank without the jurors present.
This is a developing story.
