ReTrial

Week 9 began on Monday, June 16th. The deliberation clock had barely any time on it, seeing as they had been sent into deliberations on Friday afternoon for hardly 2 hours. We knew the work of really digging down into the case, began Monday. While some were confident that the case was open and shut and a verdict would be returned in mere hours.....others understood the gravity and heaviness of what was being asked of this jury. The mounds of evidence and confusing juror slips were only the beginning. However, they stayed the course.

On June 18th, 2025, just before 3:00pm EST, the jurors and court reconvened with a verdict. What say you foreman of the jury on count one?

NOT GUILTY

On count 2?

NOT GUILTY

On the lesser included OUI

Guilty

On Count 3-

Not Guilty.

Karen Read was exonerated of all charges related to the death of Officer John O'Keefe. She was sentenced to 1 year of probation and mandatory 24D classes.

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The Defense's Case in chief was presented over weeks 7 and half way into week 8. Wrapping up the trial were defense witnesses who represented ARCCA (the crash daddies), a new medical examiner, and some original and dependable witnesses that came back for season two, including Dr. Russell and Lucky with his Franken-Truck. The Cross examinations became very heated however, leading to 2 mistrial motions on behalf of the defense for unethical and egregious behavior by the state's prosecutor, as well as some overall snark and general "I've Had IT" moments with Jackson and Brennan bickering in open court. Bev lost control of the courtroom and it was a good thing this was approaching the end.

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Week 6 closed out the month of May and the Commonwealth's case in chief. During the Week 6 trial days, we met a new engineer. He goes by the name of Dr. Judson Welcher. If you watched the trial and testimony live, you became very familiar with his strategy....which seemed more like a magic trick than actual scientific testing. Dr. Welcher pulled a page out of a Stephen King thriller or Barbara Schroeder film. He "oosurped "(or attempted) John O'Keefe's life. He all but had Karen call him 53 times in a row just to ignore and send to voicemail, in an attempt to truly prepare for this method style acting.

Covered in blue grease paint, his slight of hand tricks left everyone watching with less answers than we had before. He could not confirm an actual speed at the point of alleged impact. He could not confirm the position of John's body at the point of alleged impact. He could not use a crash test dummy. He could not behave himself in court. He could not pass go, however he did collect four hundred thousand dollars.

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Week five was a short week. Monday and Tuesday were full days and Wednesday was a half day, ending just in time for the crew to get to Cape Cod for the long weekend. Crack the hard seltzers y'all...this week was short but eventful.

Commonwealth's case in chief continued with calling more DNA experts to the stand to testify to items tested for John O'Keefe's DNA as well as the testing of Trooper Proctor and Bukhenik's buccal swabs.

After they were done questioning experts about DNA, Shann Burgess was called to testify. And boy did he. There has been a lot of chatter following this expert (or is he) testimony. Alessi dug up everything on this guy and taught us some new SAT vocab. Mendacity. Do you know what it means? You do after week 5!

Holy Science! After the spicy sauna session with Bukhenik, the Commonwealth proceeded to call a lot of witnesses to testify about evidence collection, DNA testing, tail light reconstruction and magical mystery hair. This episode is the follow up to our last episode, which finished week 3 and started on week 4 because they just weren't done with Sergeant Bukhenik.

Trial Days 15-17 included testimony from Officers Clarke, Gallerani, Brent as well as Maureen Hartnett, Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello, Ash Vallier and ended with a Rule 14 violation and motion to exclude changes to an expert witnesses' testimony and report.

Last week, the panel of witnesses was robust and so I decided to break up the recaps because Jessica Hyde and Officer Bukhenik were very important to the Commonwealth's case in chief. They are also important witnesses for the defense in terms of cross examination. Attorney Alessi, of course, handles Ms. Hyde with respect and dignity, while also showing her where she is wrong. Alan Jackson then spent a grueling 3 days trying to extract information from Sergeant Bukhenik. Pulling teeth has to be easier. During the Commonwealth's direct questioning, they interestingly position Sergeant Bukhenik as though he was the co-Lead Investigator on the case. More new information is revealed, including never before heard texts, never before seen video, and never before believed excuses.

As week three of the retrial of Karen Read closes out, the Commonwealth's case in chief continued. They expeditiously presented multiple witnesses that jumped on and off the stand, including civilian witnesses, law enforcement, expert witnesses and the new voice for the Mass State Police, Sergeant Yuriy Bukhenik.

The most stable and unwavering testimonies came from the witnesses who were brought up to testify to not having seen John in Karen's car, on the front lawn, or really anywhere on the property.

Jessica Hyde, the digital forensics expert was also brought in to give Creedence to the fact that the Hos Long To Die In Cold Search hadn't happened at 2:27am on January 29, 2022....but don't count your chickens before they hatch. Sgt Bukhenik is still also on the stand and cross hasn't finished. We'll come back with part 2 of this witness line up once Bukhenik's testimony is officially concluded. He's stewing all weekend, knowing that Monday morning, he's getting more action Jackson for breakfast.

Here is a recap of the second week of retrial in the prosecution of Karen Read for the death of officer John O'Keefe. This week, Ian Whiffen returned for a masterful cross-examination by attorney Bob Alessi. The crash daddies, Dr. Wolfe and Dr. Renschler also returned for yet ANOTHER voir dire. I'm starting to think Judge Cannone just wants the crash daddies in her court room as much as possible.

Rawr!

And then, the moment many were waiting for with baited breath. Enter witness Jennifer McCabe? New Highlights, new spray tan, new demeanor, who was this? Her glow up for 2.0 was just the beginning of the chatter. What was further learned regarding Jen's additional phone calls that were missed in 1.0 and her special visit from salesmen (or so she said), was astounding. Jen's T-Mobile 5 friends, we now know are Matt McCabe, Kerry Roberts, Peg O'Keefe, Brian Albert and D.A. Morrissey's office. Did Alan Jackson destroy her credibility? Or, did the jury buy her new "I'm just a normal soccer mom" persona? What say you?

From opening statements to the first few witnesses, a field trip and more, week 1 is officially over. For any listeners who have not watched the first trial which ended in a mistrial in July of 2024, this episode not only recaps the testimonies and happenings in the first week of retrial, but also compares and contrasts some of the strategic and testimonial changes between this trial and last.

Hank Brennan approached the opening statement in a story telling format, while the Defense’s Alan Jackson shifted to reasonable doubt versus Karen being framed.

In just the first week, Alan Jackson and David Yanetti have masterfully pointed out the discrepancies in testimonies, even getting Kerry Roberts, a key witness for the prosecution, to admit to committing perjury.

As we approach open statements and the official trial start, the jurors have been selected and there are still motions rolling in. The originally intended start date of April 14th, was pushed back, yet again, due to the hunt for a proper jury. Eighteen in total have been selected; 9 men, 9 women. They utilized their time together last week to review outstanding and new motions, including the entire dog pound. Who let the dogs out? Everyone. Judge Cannone is letting all the dog experts in.

In addition to dog talk, we heard more ARCCA bellyaches and a request to hire actors to play the roles of Karen and John. If you are up for a good laugh, tune into Nurse Kim's channel on YouTube and watch the epic read from her, Auntie Deb, Will The Glarer and Attorney Melanie Little.

And finally, the motion to quash the sequestration of witness Aidan Kearney was heard and Judge Bev did not disappoint! When she fan girls, we fan girl too.

The pendulum seemed to swing in Read's favor last week. This made Brennan big mad. He went from Nicki Minaj pink to Jessica Rabbit hair red in the face.