Court video, updates: New evidence on Day 6 of Karen Read trial as Canton police testimony continues

DEDHAM, Mass. — Tuesday marked Day 6 of witness testimony in the Karen Read murder trial as first responders who were called to the scene of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe’s death in Canton continued to take the stand.

WATCH TUESDAY’S TESTIMONY IN ITS ENTIRETY:

PLAY-BY-PAY FROM DAY 6 OF TESTIMONY (Tuesday, May 7, 2024):

9:30 A.M.

• Canton Police Sgt. Sean Goode is back on the stand. Defense Attorney David Yannetti is questioning him.

9:50 a.m.

• Yannetti shows the court a police report photo of what he has entered as a “berm.” Goode says, “I believe that’s a photo of a piece of taillight.”
• Judge Beverly Cannone interrupts, sends the jury out of the courtroom, and tells the defense and prosecution not to “squander” the time of the jurors with “repetitive evidence.”

10:05 a.m.

• Yannetti asks Sgt. Goode why a broken taillight picture replaced another picture on the face sheet of his report months the report was first written.
• Sgt. Goode tells Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally the narrative of his report did not change and the face sheet is “not the meat of the report.” Goode tells Lally when a new photo is added it will become the top photo on the face sheet.

10:20 a.m.

• Lally calls for Canton Police Lt. Michael Lank as the next witness. Cannone says, “Not yet,” and sends the jury out. The defense questioned Lank yesterday about his ties to the Albert family without the jury present. O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow outside Brian Albert’s Canton home.
• Cannone sets ground rules for Jackson’s questioning of Lank. The defense says Lank intervened in a fight on Chris Albert’s behalf. Jackson wants to get as much of that in as he can.

10:40 a.m.

• Lank takes the stand for questioning.

• Lank tells ADA Lally he spoke to Sgt. Goode and then Jennifer McCabe when he first arrived on the scene. He says his conversation with McCabe was “8 to 9 minutes.” He says he then called for the State Police “because they investigate all deaths.”

10:50 a.m.

• Lank tells ADA Lally he knew Brian Albert, “the oldest of the Albert brothers,” and he had a “civil” relationship with him.
• Lank says he spoke with Brian Albert and Nicole Albert, noting that Brian “appeared disheveled as he’d just woken up.”
• “Ultimately we observed what appeared to be blood drops in the snow and a drinking glass,” Lank tells the court.

10:55 a.m.

• Lank says he went into the Albert home three times, noting that “everything appeared in order.”
• Lank says red Solo cups used to collect blood were placed in an “evidence bag” and then into his police truck where he transported them to CPD. Lank says the cups were secured into temporary evidence.

11:05 a.m.

• Lank pulls a broken cocktail glass out of an evidence bag in front of the court.

11:15 a.m.

• Lank tells ADA Lally this is a photograph of the taillight piece the former Canton Police Chief reported finding 6 days after O’Keefe was killed.

11:50 A.M.

• Defense Attorney Alan Jackson tells the court that Lank called dispatch from the scene and said, “I don’t know if he’s been in a fight, or whatever,” referring to O’Keefe’s condition.
• Jackson asks, “Did you look for broken furniture…for evidence of a fight?” Lank answers, “I never made it past the foyer...I wouldn’t have probable cause to do so.”

12:15 P.M.

• Lank speaking about the bag the red Solo cups with blood evidence were photographed in: “It looks like an evidence bag but it doesn’t say Canton police, it says Stop & Shop.”
• Fellow Canton police officers testified about that same paper bag on Monday.

12:45 p.m.

• Canton Police Lt. Charles Rae is the next witness to take the stand.
• Rae says he drove to O’Keefe’s house to check on the children he was raising there. Read’s SUV is shown on a dashcam parked in the driveway.

1 p.m.

• Cannone announces that testimony is done for the day. Proceedings will pick back up on Wednesday at 9 a.m.

PREVIOUS STORY:

A Canton police lieutenant and sergeant took the stand Monday in Norfolk Superior Court, describing the use of red solo cups, a leaf blower, and a grocery bag, used to find and store evidence at the scene of O’Keefe’s death.

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Karen Read and Officer O'Keefe

Canton Police Lt. Sean Gallager testified Monday that he used a leaf blower to remove snow from the area where the body of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe was found and looked for evidence outside 34 Fairview Road in Canton in January 2022.

Blood from the scene was collected in red solo cups and placed in a brown paper Stop and Shop grocery bag.

More pictures were shown in the courtroom of the crime scene, as Canton Police Sgt. Sean Goode pointed out blood and a broken drinking glass in the snow and a 9-1-1 call made by the prosecution’s witness Jennifer McCabe was played.

Last week, jurors traveled to Canton for a tour of the crime scene outside retired Boston Police Officer Brian Albert’s former home, where the body of O’Keefe was found.

Also, a focus during last week’s testimony was Read’s demeanor and the words she uttered at the crime scene. Testimony from two police officers and two firefighters described Read as distraught and screaming and that O’Keefe had no pulse and wasn’t breathing.

Prosecutors say Read dropped O’Keefe off at a house party at that address just after midnight on Jan. 29, 2022. As Read made a three-point turn, she allegedly struck O’Keefe and drove away, leaving him to die as a blizzard raged.

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Karen Read's Lexus SUV

The state is using Read’s cracked right taillight as evidence she ran down O’Keefe in reverse with her SUV after a night of drinking.

Read’s lawyers plan to argue during the trial that someone other than Read was responsible for O’Keefe’s death but have only floated a theory that he was beaten inside 34 Fairview Road and left for dead outside.

The defense has criticized investigators for failing to search the house where the party was held to see if a fight had occurred and argued his injuries were consistent with being beaten up.

Read, 44, of Mansfield, faces several charges including second-degree murder. She has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

RELATED VIDEO:

Witness testimony in Karen Read murder trial from Monday, May 6, 2024

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