The judge overseeing the Karen Read murder trial has denied a request from the defense to delete testimony in which a key witness cried over “alleged harassment” she and her family have received during the case as evidence.
Before Day 13 of testimony even began at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Judge Beverly Cannone shot down defense attorney David Yannetti’s motion for the jury to “disregard” the “alleged harassment” as evidence.
Allison McCabe broke down in tears on the stand Wednesday when she confirmed investigators questioned her last year after the defense and supporters alleged Colin Albert played a part in John O’Keefe’s death.
“Colin wasn’t at the house when John was there … I drove him home,” McCabe said. “People are harassing him saying that he was at the house when it’s not true.”
Albert is one of three people who the defense, in pre-trial hearings, has accused of beating O’Keefe to death inside 34 Fairview Road in Canton in the early morning of Jan. 29, 2022.
McCabe testified she provided investigators screenshots of messages she and Albert exchanged regarding the ride home, between 11:54 p.m. and 12:10 a.m., when Albert was picked up.
“I wanted to point out to the court … that we didn’t even come close to opening the door to that evidence,” Yannetti argued at the start of Thursday’s half-day session. “I just asked the witness if she had turned over those text messages to the State Police when she spoke to them on Aug. 25, 2023.
“None of that conversation had anything to do with harassment whatsoever,” Yannetti added. “It was strictly related to the death of John O’Keefe and the investigation of John O’Keefe. I’ve stayed completely clear of any discussion of harassment whatsoever.”
During the emotional testimony Wednesday, prosecutor Adam Lally asked McCabe, “What if anything else has your family or Colin Albert and his family undergone over the course of … this case.” She responded, “Harassment.”
“Harassment, by whom,” Lally asked. “Bloggers, people online,” she responded.
“People showing up at our house, people emailing my school,” she said as she started to shed tears. “Just like a lot of … harassment.”
The defense has developed a third-party killer theory and has alleged a massive frame-up job used to ensnare their client. Brian Albert and Brian Higgins, a friend of Albert’s who allegedly had a romantic connection with Read, are the two others the defense has targeted.
Prosecutors say that after a night out drinking, Read and O’Keefe argued, and she killed him by backing her Lexus SUV into him at high speed, leaving him to die in the cold during a major snowstorm.
Read, 44, of Mansfield, faces charges of second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter and leaving the scene of a collision causing the death of O’Keefe, a 16-year Boston Police officer and her boyfriend of about two years when he died at age 46.
“I didn’t even approach the door, and yet that’s when this came in,” Yannetti said during his request. “It led to a moment that Mr. Lally, I believe, has been waiting for, which is a witness to break down on the stand and feel sorry for themselves, to gain sympathy from this jury. It was prejudicial to our client, it was prejudicial to our defense.”
In response, Lally said Yannetti “absolutely opened the door as far as questioning was concerned” and that the “characterization of the questioning was simply inaccurate.”
“As far as the questions that were posed to the witness it was more geared towards ‘Why?,’” Lally said. “Implying the witness only provided this after testifying at the other proceeding or being questioned about it in that environment, and that’s the only reason why she had these messages and why she hadn’t provided these messages over earlier.”
“And that is in direct response to the harassment that that witness and her entire family as well as Mr. Albert had sustained as a result of actions by several different parties including counsel,” he added before Cannone denied the motion.
“I clearly remember the lines of inquiry that you initiated so I disagree with you in the strongest way possible,” Cannone told Yannetti.