Forensic pathologist testifies under cross-examination as testimony ends for the day — 4:00 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Prosecutor Hank Brennan asked if Dr. Marie Russell would agree that the superficial abrasions on O’Keefe’s arm don’t have punctures.
“They don’t appear to have any punctures,” Russell said.
In the past, Brennan asked, did you give varying opinions about the cause of each individual wound?
“I don’t believe so,” Russell said.
Brennan asked if Russell recalled having “uncertainty” in prior testimony about how the wounds were caused.
“I don’t remember that,” Russell said.
“Do you remember when you then testified a couple days later at the proceeding [last year] that some of your opinions changed?” Brennan asked.
“I don’t believe that” occurred, Russell said.
Brennan said Russell initially testified the wounds were consistent with an “animal attack,” rather than specifying a dog.
“I do remember that,” Russell said. “I was certain it was a dog attack. … I have reviewed this case over and over again. … So my degree of certainty perhaps increased.”
“When you testified [initially] you didn’t say dog attack, you said animal attack at the beginning, didn’t you?” Brennan asked.
“Yes,” Russell said.
She said dog bites and claw marks can look similar.
Cannone sent jurors home for the day shortly before 4 p.m. Russell returns to the stand Tuesday.
“Tomorrow is also a full day,” Cannone told the jury.
Forensic pathologist continues testimony under cross-examination — 3:49 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Prosecutor Hank Brennan asked Dr. Marie Russell if she has had any specific training on pattern recognition related to dog bites.
“The trainings that I went to on bite marks in general … included” differentiating a human bite from a dog bite, Russell said. “But no, I did not specifically attend seminars limited to dog bites only.”
Brennan asked if Russell had attained any certificates in pattern recognition analysis.
“I don’t think there are any that exist,” Russell said.
Brennan inquired when she was previously asked to conduct a forensic evaluation of a photograph to determine whether a wound came from a dog bite.
“Never,” Russell said. “It just doesn’t come up.”
She said she’s “the only physician that I know of” who can look at a photograph to determine whether a wound came from a dog bite.
What about the many forensic pathologists and medical examiners around the country, Brennan asked.
“I doubt that very many of them have a specific interest in dog bite wounds,” Russell said.
Brennan asked if Russell received a report from a government medical expert on the question of O’Keefe’s injuries.
“I received a report authored by a non-physician,” Russell said.
Brennan asked if a dog trainer would have the experience to discuss dog bite wounds.
“There may be a certain small subset of people who have much, very much experience with dog bites” who could speak on the matter, Russell said.
“If someone had looked at perhaps hundreds and hundreds of wounds inflicted by a dog … and they saw the resulting photographs on a person, I think that that particular person may be able to make some comment as to whether or not some wounds are consistent” with a dog bite, Russell said.
She said she hasn’t studied veterinary medicine.
Russell told Brennan the medical examiner’s file included a toxicology report as well as a dog bite report from the town of Canton for prior incidents involving the German Shepherd.
She told Brennan “that’s correct” when he asked if making physical measurements can show what’s not apparent in a photograph.
Brennan asked Russell if she knew the medical examiner in the case, Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello, found O’Keefe had “superficial” abrasions on his arm.
“They are not inconsistent with what I said,” Russell said.
“That’s not what I asked, though,” Brennan said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be sharp.”
He asked if Russell knew Scordi-Bello felt there was “no puncture and no depth to those wounds.”
Russell said “there’s no inconsistency” with Scordi-Bello’s findings and hers.
The lawyers were later called back to a sidebar.
Forensic pathologist testifies under cross-examination — 3:26 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Dr. Marie Russell told prosecutor Hank Brennan that he’s questioned her before.
“Before this case had you ever testified as an expert in dog bites in any federal court in the United States?” Brennan asked.
“No,” Russell said, adding that the same was true for state courts.
She told Brennan the media reporting she saw piqued her interest in the case.
“I spoke to a district attorney in Los Angeles,” Russell said. “I brought it up.”
“You wanted to get involved in this high-profile case, didn’t you?” Brennan asked.
“No,” Russell said, adding that she felt she was one of the few people in the country who could speak authoritatively on the questions about O’Keefe’s wounds.
“Did you want to get involved?” Brennan asked.
“No, not really,” Russell said, adding that she was ultimately hired by Read’s lawyers.
“After you testified in this case last year, you then began to advertise yourself as a dog bite expert, didn’t you?” Brennan asked.
“I had advertised myself many years ago as a dog bite expert, I think,” Russell said. “But yes, I did advertise myself as an emergency medicine and pathology expert.”
Brennan asked if she was using the Read case as a “marketing opportunity,” and she said that after her retirement she wanted to “get more involved in some forensic legal cases.”
She told Brennan she hasn’t testified in any other court since the first Read trial as a dog bite expert.
Forensic pathologist continues testimony on dog bites — 3:23 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Dr. Marie Russell told Read lawyer Robert Alessi she has evaluated the clothing of victims in motor vehicle accidents.
“Have you ever evaluated clothing in determining whether or not the defects in the clothing are consistent or inconsistent” with a car accident, Alessi asked.
“Not specifically,” Russell said.
She said it’s not necessary to view a specific dog to determine whether wounds come from a dog bite generally. That’s an apparent reference to the fact that prosecutors sent an expert to Vermont, where the German Shepherd that lived at the Canton home at the time of John O’Keefe’s death now resides, to take measurements of its teeth.
Russell said she reviewed 10 to 20 relevant studies in looking at O’Keefe’s wounds and relied on two in particular.
Alessi handed Russell printouts of those two studies.
Alessi asked if those studies support Russell’s “opinion in this case,” and she said they did.
“I believe these injuries were caused by a dog attack,” Russell said, prompting Cannone to strike the word “attack.”
Russell said she believes “these injuries are the result of dog bites or claw marks.”
Forensic pathologist testifies for defense — 2:49 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Dr. Marie Russell said she believes “all of the bites here are incomplete” because “they don’t penetrate the skin.”
“So they are just scratches on the surface of the skin. … They don’t penetrate the full thickness of the skin” and soft tissue, she said.
Russell said she has treated many incomplete dog bites, and she believes John O’Keefe suffered all his arm wounds at the same time.
They were inflicted before he died, Russell said.
“They have what we call a vital reaction,” Russell said, citing inflammation around the edges of the wounds. “That supports the fact that they were inflicted during life.”
Russell said she didn’t physically view O’Keefe’s body but using photographs is an accepted practice in her field.
The lawyers were called back to a sidebar.
Forensic pathologist continues testimony after lunch recess — 2:45 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Following the lunch break, Dr. Marie Russell told Read lawyer Robert Alessi that John O’Keefe had “multiple patterns” of cuts on his right arm.
“There’s multiple groupings of linear abrasions,” Russell said.
She said she detected such groupings from the “mid-arm to the mid-forearm.”
“I believe that these wounds were initiated closer to the … front of the forearm,” Russell said. “They all started closer to the anterior, or front portion of the arm.”
The wound direction, she said, “is towards the posterior [back] portion of the arm.”
Alessi put up a second photo on the monitor of O’Keefe’s arm taken a couple days after his death.
In the second photo, O’Keefe’s skin tone is more yellow, Russell said.
She said some marks on his arm appear to come from the “pooling of blood” after his death.
Asked if she saw any bruising on O’Keefe’s right elbow, she said that it “could be” the result of the pooling, also known as “post-mortem lividity.”
Russell said the civilian dog bite wounds she treated in the hospital showed “some similarities” with O’Keefe’s injuries, but “not as many” abrasions as O’Keefe sustained.
Russell said O’Keefe’s arm appeared to show “multiple strikes from a dog.”
She said she characterizes the wounds as “highly specific for a dog attack,” and after a government objection Judge Beverly Cannone said that she would “strike the last word” of that response.
Russell said she believes O’Keefe’s lower forearm showed an “arch-like” wound, suggesting it came from “the very front teeth of the dog.”
Russell stressed that O’Keefe’s skin would have been “somewhat elastic” and sliding over his bones, so some wounds “may have been created by the exact same teeth” but looked different.
The lawyers were later called to a sidebar.
Following the sidebar, Russell again told Alessi she saw “several groupings” of wounds on O’Keefe’s arm, or at least four.
Asked if she saw any claw marks, she said some wounds have characteristics of both claws and bites.
“I believe they are” from a dog attack, Russell said.
Forensic pathologist testifies that John O’Keefe’s arm wounds were ‘inflicted as the result of a dog attack’ — 1:01 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Following the sidebar, Read lawyer Robert Alessi asked Dr. Marie Russell if she came to any conclusion about O’Keefe’s arm scratches.
She said yes.
“Those wounds were inflicted as the result of a dog attack,” Russell said. “There are multiple groupings of wounds,” including one “complex grouping at the elbow.”
She said “these multiple groupings are patterns” that she believes were inflicted by a dog’s teeth and claws.
“One can see that these wounds are going essentially in the same direction,” Russell said. “That gives me direction.”
She said the wound pattern also suggests a “pulling away movement” and a bending of the arm at the time of the alleged dog attack.
Cannone called a lunch recess just before 1 p.m. Russell continues her testimony at 2 p.m.
Forensic pathologist testifies on scratches found on John O’Keefe’s right arm — 12:53 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Following the sidebar, Read lawyer Robert Alessi put a photo on the monitor of the scratches on O’Keefe’s right arm.
Dr. Marie Russell told Alessi that she had formed an opinion about the wounds, though she didn’t elaborate.
She said that in forming her opinion, she “used pattern recognition and differential diagnosis.”
The latter term refers to a doctor considering other possible causes for an injury beyond the cause they believe is likely, Russell said.
Russell said she also understands confirmation bias, and that differential diagnosis “assists” in avoiding such bias.
“In my mind I went through other possible things or causes of wounds on an arm,” she said. “And then I figured out why these other potential causes of wounds … did not fit this case.”
Russell said she looked at photos of O’Keefe’s body at the hospital and medical examiner’s office, as well as medical records, the autopsy report, and police reports to form her opinion. She also viewed photographs of O’Keefe’s clothing.
O’Keefe’s hooded sweatshirt, Russell said, had a number of holes in it.
The lawyers were called back to a sidebar.
Forensic pathologist testifies about characteristics of dog bites — 12:43 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Dr. Marie Russell told Read lawyer Robert Alessi that dogs often make contact with victims’ skin with the teeth on their upper jaw.
“They scratch the skin, but in parallel, because the teeth are lined up,” Russell said.
A dog’s claws can also cause injury, Russell said.
“I think I have a very wide range of experiences” treating dog bites, Russell said.
“Are you aware of the medical facility from your experience where people go who have dog-inflicted wounds?” Alessi asked.
Russell said patients “most likely” visit the ER. The defense noted at pretrial that while Russell’s a medical doctor, the government’s rebuttal witness on the dog bite question is not.
Russell told Alessi she first became involved in the Read case after seeing a report in the Boston Globe about a question over whether O’Keefe had been attacked by a dog.
Read’s lawyers have maintained that John O’Keefe was not struck by her SUV and may have been attacked by a dog who lived at the Fairview Road home.
She said she reached out to a Los Angeles prosecutor after seeing the report.
The lawyers were then called to a sidebar.
Forensic pathologist testifies on dog bites, wound pattern recognition — 12:32 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Dr. Marie Russell told Read lawyer Robert Alessi she has testified as an expert witness in other cases related to emergency medicine and forensic pathology.
She said she’s familiar with the concept of wound pattern recognition, which is “very important in medicine.”
Russell said she had to “weekly” deploy her skills in pattern recognition, particularly in child abuse cases where victims weren’t necessarily being truthful about what happened.
Pattern recognition is important in forensic pathology, Russell said, because “if there are a series of scratches, or a series of lacerations … they can tell you more about how it happened.”
She said one frequent dispute in court is whether wounds come as a result of “self-defense,” which pattern recognition can address, as well as “people who are struck by cars,” where “there are certain patterns that one expects to see when an individual is struck.”
There are often “lower-extremity fractures” when someone’s struck by a car, Russell said. John O’Keefe had no such fractures.
Often, Russell said, someone being attacked will raise their arms to protect their face, neck, and chest, leaving the back of their arms vulnerable to being struck.
She said she’s identified defensive wounds to a victim “many times.”
Russell said she also had knowledge of the dental features of dogs, “generally from reading articles.”
She also identified a diagram of canine dental anatomy.
She said the diagram shows dogs tend to have a “triangular mouth” that narrows as it gets closer to the front.
Alessi put the diagram on the monitor for jurors to view.
Russell said the picture showed “some prominent teeth, they’re called the canine teeth. And then there are some smaller teeth.”
Humans also have canine teeth, she said.
When a dog bites, Russell said, normally not all the teeth make contact with the target, who’s often trying to move away in the moment.
Forensic pathologist continues testimony — 12:01 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Dr. Marie Russell told Read lawyer Robert Alessi that she has treated a number of patients who were bitten or attacked by dogs.
A civilian dog bite, Russell said, tends to leave relatively minor puncture wounds, while a police dog bite often leaves “extensive wounds where there was extensive ripping, tearing, crushing of tissue,” and also injuries to muscles and blood vessels.
She said dog teeth “might only scratch the surface” leaving an “incomplete” mark during an attack.
Russell said she saw “horrific” wounds in her jail work.
She said she worked as a Malden police officer from 1977 to 1984 and graduated from the Boston police academy.
Russell said she “conservatively” estimates she has treated at least 500 dog bites over the course of her medical career. She said she also treated “many” people injured in car crashes.
“It was a very busy Level I trauma center,” Russell said of the Los Angeles hospital.
She said she treated at least 3,000 car accident victims, by her calculations.
Dr. Marie Russell takes the stand for defense — 11:49 a.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Russell told Read lawyer Robert Alessi that she worked a number of “unexplained deaths” during her forensic pathology fellowship, as well as fatal overdoses, homicides, suicides, and deadly car crashes.
“Part of the examination … is the external examination of the body” during an autopsy, Russell said.
She said she currently works for the Medical Board of California, the state regulatory body for doctors and other medical professionals, and previously worked in the state prison system as the chief medical executive of a high-security facility, following a 29-year tenure at a hospital now known as Los Angeles General Medical Center.
Russell said she conducted a number of death investigations of incarcerated people during her time as chief medical executive of the prison.
Next witness Dr. Marie Russell — 11:29 a.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Following the coffee break, the defense called Dr. Marie Russell to the stand.
Russell, a veteran emergency room physician and forensic pathologist in Los Angeles who worked previously as a police officer in Malden, testified during the first trial that the scratches on John O’Keefe’s arm appeared to have come from dog bites.
Russell began her direct examination from Read attorney Robert Alessi by running through her training and professional background.
Former Canton police officer continues testimony — 10:47 a.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Following the sidebar, Read lawyer Alan Jackson said former Canton police officer Kelly Dever told the federal agents she never saw Ken Berkowitz and Brian Higgins leave the sallyport but that they were in the garage “for a wildly long time.”
Dever said that was her recollection at the time she spoke to the agents.
Jackson asked Dever if she recalled the defense telling her they wanted “the truth.”
Jackson also asked if Dever recalled telling him on the phone, “I know you’re going to tear me a new [expletive]” due to her altered statement, and she said she didn’t recall.
Jackson asked if Dever was personal friends with anyone connected with the case.
“One person, yes,” Dever said. “Sarah Levinson.”
Levinson was one of the afterparty guests at the Fairview Road house.
Dever told prosecutor Hank Brennan on recross that she was called to the stand by the defense.
She said it’s not a secret that she knows Levinson.
“Do you understand that regardless of what you say, it doesn’t matter as long as it’s the truth?” Brennan asked.
“Yes,” Dever said.
“You understand the Commonwealth has never … advised you to say anything other than truth,” Brennan said.
“No,” Dever said.
“Is there any way you could have seen” Higgins and Berkowitz in the garage with the SUV, since she left work before the SUV got to the sallyport, Brennan asked.
“There is no way,” Dever said, adding that the defense wanted her to “repeat a lie,” once she realized her memory was faulty.
Brennan asked if Dever was “threatened” with a perjury charge if she didn’t conform her testimony to the defense’s liking, and she said yes.
Brennan asked Dever why she wouldn’t just repeat the same false memory she had given to the agents in August 2023, to avoid angering the defense.
“Wouldn’t it have been easier?” he asked.
“Well of course,” Dever said, adding that “my entire job revolves around what I say on the stand right now. If I was to lie, I lose my job. I lose everything. I’m here to tell the truth. I cannot lie while sitting on the stand.”
Jackson asked on redirect if she agreed that if her August 2023 statement to federal investigators were true, then she’d be implicating two fellow officers in wrongdoing.
“If I was to lie, then yes,” Dever said.
Brennan said Dever “didn’t implicate” Higgins and Berkowitz in evidence tampering or other wrongdoing.
“I have no one to protect,” Dever told him.
Judge Beverly Cannone called a morning recess around 10:55 a.m.
Former Canton police officer testifies — 10:55 a.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Following the sidebar, Kelly Dever said only she and Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox were present for the meeting, without department legal counsel.
Read lawyer Alan Jackson asked if Cox told her to “do the right thing,” and Dever said she couldn’t recall the direct quote.“
He said nothing with the intent of guiding me one way or the other,” Dever said, adding that Cox “wanted me to tell the truth up here.”
Jackson asked if Cox had ever called her up to his office to discuss her upcoming testimony in a prior case.
“That’s not a yes or no answer,” Dever said, later answering, “no.”
Dever told prosecutor Hank Brennan on cross-examination that she had never spoken with him previously.
She told Brennan she has spoken with the defense team a couple of times by phone.
Dever told Brennan she filled in at dispatch on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022.
She told Brennan “this was just a random shift for me three and a half years ago at a desk.”
She said “the agents asked me” in August 2023 about the case for the first time, referring to federal investigators.
Dever told Brennan she told the agents “on the day of” that she saw Ken Berkowitz, the Canton police chief at the time, and ATF agent Brian Higgins in the sallyport together.
Dever said she knew her shift ended at 3:45 p.m. and she left then. The defense later produced a timeline showing the SUV came into the garage after that, “meaning it is not possible that I saw that.”
Dever said it was a “false memory” that she “provided in good faith,” which she then “retracted immediately [upon] being provided evidence that it was not possible.”
She said her false memory may have been colored by media reports she saw about the case.
Dever said the defense wanted her to say that “I saw Higgins and Berkowitz in the garage with the car” and threatened to charge her with perjury if she didn’t make the statement.
She said the defense made the threat “at least once.”
She said she felt “disappointment that legal counsel would go that route.”
Dever said her retraction about Higgins and Berkowitz wasn’t “based on emotion; it was very clear, given the timeline, it could not be correct.”
She said no Boston police personnel ever tried to shade her testimony one way or another.
Cox “made it very clear he did not want to discuss the case at all” during their meeting, Dever said.“
There is discomfort with the way that they are attempting to guide what my testimony is,” Dever said. “But I don’t feel any need to fall into it, because I’m here to speak the truth on the stand. That’s my livelihood.”
She said the phone call with the defense where they made the threat ended with “a pretty hasty hangup on both ends.”
The lawyers went back to a sidebar.
Next witness is Boston police officer Kelly Dever — 10:14 a.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Read attorney Alan Jackson called Boston police officer Kelly Dever, who worked formerly for the Canton police department.
In January 2022, Dever said, she was a patrol officer.
Dever said neither Canton nor State Police ever interviewed her about the Read case, nor was she asked about her observations on Jan. 28, 2022 into Jan. 29, 2022.
Jackson asked if a “separate law enforcement agency” first contacted her about the case in August 2023, an apparent reference to the FBI. The US attorney’s office in Massachusetts convened a federal grand jury to look into state law enforcement’s investigation into John O’Keefe’s death; no one was charged with any federal crimes.
Dever said she was working the overnight shift in Canton on the night of Jan. 28 going into Jan. 29.
Dever said a call for a person found unresponsive in the snow came in while she was in her cruiser, and she was asked to go back into the station to “take over dispatch.”
Dever said she did not at the time know Brian Albert, who owned the Fairview Road home where O’Keefe’s body was found near the road, but she did know his brother Kevin Albert, a Canton police detective. She said she knew Brian Higgins, an ATF agent who had swapped flirtatious texts with Read, “in passing” since he had an office in the Canton police station.
Higgins was also present at the Fairview afterparty and went to the police station from there around 1:30 a.m., according to video footage and prior testimony.
Dever said Ken Berkowitz was then the Canton police chief; he died in December 2024.
Dever said she sat down in the dispatch room to take over.
She said the police station has cameras inside but she couldn’t recall where they were.
Dever said it would “make sense” that the Canton police garage had surveillance cameras. “It’s where we brought prisoners.”
“There were cameras in the sallyport,” she said.
Jackson asked Dever if she wanted “to be here today,” and Dever said, “I don’t know why I’m here. I have no connection to this case.”
The lawyers were called back to a sidebar.
Offensive texts from State Police investigator Michael Proctor read to jury — 9:54 a.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Following the sidebar, prosecutor Hank Brennan read out the texts in question.
State Police investigator Michael Proctor wrote “‘she’s a whackjob’ and then uses the c-word to describe” Read, Brennan said, reading from the transcript.
Proctor also called Read “a babe” with a “weird Fall River accent,” adding that there’s “zero chance” she avoids legal issues, and that “she’s [expletive].”
Proctor also wrote in early February 2022 that Read was a “nutbag” with a “leaky balloon knot,” a reference to her medical conditions, per Brennan’s reading.
A friend asked Proctor what he was “guzzling on,” in response.
Proctor also wrote that he was “writing a warrant” at the time.
Jonathan Diamandis said he wasn’t part of these conversations.
Brennan asked if Proctor ever suggested planting evidence or framing Read, and Diamandis said “absolutely not.”
Read lawyer David Yannetti asked on redirect if the information Proctor was divulging at the time was “public,” and Diamandis said he didn’t recall.
”At the time Michael Proctor was texting these messages … were Ms. Read’s medical conditions public?” Yannetti asked.
Diamandis said he knew nothing about the case at the time.
“Were you aware that he was fired for revealing confidential information about an investigation?” Yannetti asked.
“I was not aware of that,” Diamandis said.
He told Brennan on recross that his understanding was Proctor was fired for the texts. Brennan asked if he knew Proctor was not fired for tampering with the Read evidence, and Diamandis said he did not know that.
He then stepped down.
Friend of Michael Proctor continues his testimony — 9:37 a.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Jonathan Diamandis told prosecutor Hank Brennan after the sidebar that State Police investigator Michael Proctor told him he was terminated “in connection with this case.” He said he believes Proctor’s firing was “based on” his comments in the text chain.
Someone asked Proctor in the text chain on the night of Jan. 29, 2022, for the “name of that BPD cop” who was killed, Diamandis said, reading from the printout.
Proctor also wrote that John O’Keefe “took custody of his sister’s kids” following their parents’ deaths, and that the “powers that be want answers ASAP.”
Someone wrote to Proctor that the Fairview Road homeowner would also face scrutiny, and Proctor responded, “nope. Homeowner is a Boston cop too.”
He also wrote that Read “waffled” O’Keefe. When a friend asked if O’Keefe was “beat up,” he said, “nope.”
Proctor also wrote, “she hit him with her car.”
Proctor also wrote that police in Boston and Canton had to “recuse themselves” from the case.
Another friend wrote that something “stinks,” and Proctor said “there will be some serious charges brought on the girl.”
One friend asked if Read was “hot at least.” The lawyers were called back to a sidebar.
Friend of former State Police investigator Michael Proctor takes the stand — 9:24 a.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Jonathan Diamandis told Read lawyer David Yannetti that he, Michael Proctor, and several other friends had been texting on one particular chain for more than a decade.
He identified “a portion of our text chain” when Yannetti handed him a printout of the messages.
Proctor was listed as “Local User” in the text chain, and other friends were identified by their nicknames, Diamandis said.
He said Proctor has the nicknames Chip and Bear.
Diamandis told prosecutor Hank Brennan on cross-examination that he and Proctor remain close. They’ve been friends for decades, and the text chain goes back years.
He told Brennan it “sounds” accurate that the text chain contains more than 38,000 messages.
When asked, he told Brennan that Proctor made inappropriate comments on the chain.
“Did you know that Mr. Proctor was fired … because of his inappropriate comments?” Brennan asked.
The defense objected and the lawyers were called to a sidebar.
Judge allows Michael Proctor texts into evidence — 9:21 a.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Judge Beverly J. Cannone said she’ll allow text messages from State Police investigator Michael Proctor to be entered into evidence, over the objections of prosecutors.
Proctor, the lead investigator on the Read case, was fired after the first trial when he was forced to read boorish texts he sent about her to friends and coworkers during the probe into John O’Keefe’s death.
Cannone said she finds the texts have been properly authenticated and could speak to his state of mind, “specifically as that goes to potentially reflecting any bias or omissions on the police investigation.”
Read attorney David Yannetti then called Proctor’s longtime friend, Jonathan Diamandis, to the stand. Diamandis was among the friends on Proctor’s text chain.
Defense returns to presenting its case — 8:49 a.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Testimony resumes Monday in Karen Read’s murder retrial, with the defense presenting its case for a second day in Norfolk Superior Court.
Read, 45, has pleaded not guilty to charges including second-degree murder for allegedly backing her SUV into her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, early on Jan. 29, 2022, after dropping him off outside a Canton home following a night of bar-hopping.
Her lawyers say she was framed and that O’Keefe entered the house, owned at the time by a fellow Boston police officer, where he was fatally beaten and possibly attacked by a German Shepherd before his body was planted on the lawn.
Read’s first trial ended in a hung jury in July and she remains free on bail.
Among the defense witnesses the jury has yet to hear from are Dr. Marie Russell, a veteran emergency room physician who plans to testify that injuries to O’Keefe’s right arm appeared to come from dog bites, and experts from the crash reconstruction firm ARCCA, who determined that O’Keefe’s injuries weren’t consistent with being hit by a vehicle.
The government called its own experts to contradict those opinions in its case, which prosecutors rested last week.
