Jurors in Karen Read’s second murder trial traveled on Friday to the location where John O’Keefe died in 2022.
Read is accused of fatally striking O’Keefe, her boyfriend and a Boston police officer, with her vehicle and leaving him in the snow outside a residence in Canton, approximately 20 miles south of Boston. Her initial murder trial concluded in a mistrial last year after the jury reported its inability to reach a unanimous verdict.
Read has entered a plea of not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death.
Prosecutors contend that Read struck O’Keefe with her SUV after dropping him off at a gathering and returned hours later to discover his body. Defense attorneys argue that Read was the victim of a conspiracy involving law enforcement.
What we know about the house and the couple’s last night
On the night preceding O’Keefe’s death, he and Read were out socializing and drinking at two bars with friends.
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Shortly after midnight, the couple entered Read’s SUV and drove to the Canton home of O’Keefe’s colleague for an after-party. Upon arrival, O’Keefe exited the vehicle, and Read subsequently drove home.
According to court documents, in the early hours of the following morning, Read and two friends drove around in a snowstorm searching for O’Keefe and ultimately found his body in the front yard of the Canton residence.
Prosecutors assert that Read’s SUV exhibited a broken taillight, and fragments of it were discovered outside the Canton home.
However, during Read’s first trial, the defense theorized that O’Keefe was assaulted inside the home and mauled by the homeowners’ German shepherd, Chloe, before being left outside in the snow to die. The defense alleged that the police then engaged in a conspiracy to fabricate evidence and commit perjury to protect their own.
A medical examiner determined that O’Keefe sustained multiple skull fractures consistent with blunt-force trauma, leading to bleeding in the brain.
The autopsy also revealed that he had two swollen black eyes and several abrasions and scrapes on his right arm. Hypothermia was identified as a contributing factor in his death, according to the autopsy report.
A crucial visit
Prior to the visit to the house, Judge Beverly Cannone informed the jurors that she and attorneys from both the prosecution and the defense would accompany them.
“I have to make something very clear: The purpose of this view is to help you better understand the evidence you will hear at trial and help you appreciate the location and surroundings,” Cannone told the jury.
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“The observations that you make while on the view may be used and considered by you in your deliberations in reaching a verdict,” the judge stated. “Also, while you are on the view, you are not to take any notes or photographs. You are not to conduct any investigation in this case. You really are simply to stop and look.”
Both the prosecution and the defense outlined for the jury what they believed the jurors should focus on at the scene.
The jurors then boarded a bus from the court in Dedham to the house in Canton. There, Read’s Lexus was parked in front of the home – but in a different location compared to where it was when jurors from Read’s first murder trial visited the previous year, CNN affiliate WCVB reported on Friday.
Instead of being near the end of the driveway, the SUV was parked near the flagpole where O’Keefe’s body was discovered, according to WCVB.
