DEDHAM, Mass. — Prosecutors in the high-profile Karen Read murder case want testimony from a defense expert on Jennifer McCabe’s Google searches excluded from the Mansfield woman’s second trial, according to a new court filing.
A motion filed by prosecutors in Dedham’s Norfolk Superior Court on New Year’s Eve seeks to exclude testimony from Richard Green, a digital forensics expert hired by Read’s defense team to analyze cellphones that belonged to Read, her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe, and McCabe.
During Read’s first trial, which ended with a hung jury in July 2024, Green testified that McCabe’s phone googled “how long ti die in cikd” or “hos long to die in cold” at 2:27 a.m. and that a search of her phone indicated user deletions of data.
McCabe previously testified that Read asked her to make the Google search after they found O’Keefe dead in the snow outside of 34 Fairview Road in Canton.
The Commonwealth wants Green’s testimony excluded from the retrial, which Judge Beverly Cannone agreed to delay until April 2025.
“Exclusion is appropriate because both claims lack any evidentiary support, and the claims cannot be made in good faith. Allowing introduction of baseless claims without any scientific, forensic, or factual support would be misleading to the jury and disruptive to the interest of justice,” the motion stated.
The motion also argued that Green was “broad and vague” about his “training, experience, and lack of digital forensics certifications” during cross-examination.
Read is accused of hitting her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV on Jan. 29, 2022, and leaving him to die after a night of drinking.
McCabe’s sister, Nicole Albert and her husband, fellow Boston police officer Brian Albert, owned the Fairview Road home and she was said to be inside when prosecutors allege Read struck O’Keefe.
The defense has sought to portray Read as the victim, saying O’Keefe was actually killed inside the Albert family home and then dragged outside and left for dead. They have also long suggested that McCabe was part of that coverup.
The prosecution has also asked Cannone to block Read’s dog expert, Dr. Marie Russell, from testifying at her second trial.
Russell previously testified that the holes found in O’Keefe’s hoodie and the wounds to his arm were from a dog.
Read’s lawyers have been fighting to dismiss her second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly crash charge for double jeopardy reasons after multiple jurors told them that the jury agreed to acquit on those counts. Double jeopardy is a legal protection that prohibits anyone from being prosecuted twice for the same crime.
The SJC is currently determining if jurors who sat through Read’s first trial will be questioned about their deliberations. The SJC will issue a written decision that could take months before it is published.
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