Karen Read trial recap: Judge says defense set ‘ambush’ by using crash experts (2025)

Karen Read‘s second trial in connection with the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, continued on Tuesday in Dedham’s Norfolk Superior Court before Judge Beverly Cannone.

• Read more:Five takeaways from week 1 of Karen Read’s retrial
• Read more: Recap of trial day 5

The jury heard lengthy testimony from a prosecution cell-phone expert and from a key witness for the prosecution who was with Read when she found O’Keefe’s body on Tuesday. The witness, Jennifer McCabe, will continue her testimony when the trial resumes Wednesday.

People to know:

• Robert Alessi, lawyer for Read
• Hank Brennan, special prosecutor for the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office
• Jennifer McCabe, friend of O’Keefe’s who was with Read when she found his body
• Ian Whiffin, digital forensics examiner at Cellebrite

4:15 p.m. - Judge allows ARCCA witnesses to testify

Brennan asked Cannone to exclude the testimony of two accident reconstruction experts working for the firm ARCCA in the wake of a voir dire hearing Monday.

He argued the experts participated in “subterfuge” and refused to comply with a court order requiring them to turn over all communications.

“I suggest that the relationship was not resigned to mere logistics‚” Brennan said of the connection between the experts and Read’s lawyers.

But while Cannone found Read’s defense committed “repeated and deliberate” violations of reciprocal discovery and court orders, she ultimately allowed the experts to testify later in the trial.

“The defendant’s right to a fair trial is paramount,” she said.

Still, she chastised Read’s defense for what she described as an ambush of prosecutors. She pleaded with the lawyers to “just try the case.”

“I expect counsel to comply with all rulings and rules of the court,” Cannone said. “No more nonsense.”

3:55 p.m. - McCabe concludes testimony for the day

When she, Kerry Roberts and Read discovered O’Keefe in the snow, McCabe said she was “shocked” and “stunned.”

“At first I just stood there for a minute because I couldn’t believe it was him,” McCabe said, tears welling up in her eyes. “I think I knew in that moment that John was dead.”

McCabe said she saw Roberts wiping snow off O’Keefe’s face. At one point, Roberts asked her to take over chest compressions and McCabe said she felt “resistance” as she pushed down on his chest.

At that point, Cannone cut the questioning short and told McCabe to return on Wednesday.

3:44 p.m. - Read was ‘adamant’ about going to Fairview Road to find O’Keefe

After leaving McCabe’s home, Read, McCabe and another woman, Kerry Roberts, went to O’Keefe’s home to try and find him.

On the way, Read was “quite hysterical” and “yelling about going to Fairview,” McCabe said. Read asked, “Did I hit him? Could I have hit him?” a “good amount,” she testified.

At some point while the three of them were at O’Keefe’s home, Read pointed out her cracked taillight. McCabe said the light was missing pieces.

When the group left O’Keefe’s home, Read insisted they go to Fairview Road.

The mood in the car was “starting to get tense,” and Read was screaming. As the car approached the house, Read began yelling, “There he is, let me out.”

McCabe said she and Roberts were confused.

“I was just like, ‘what the heck? What is going on?’” McCabe said.

3:33 p.m. - Read was ‘all over the place’ in early morning phone calls

McCabe said she was woken up early on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, by a phone call from O’Keefe’s niece.

In the background of the call, McCabe heard Read screaming her name and saying O’Keefe never came home.

The call was “loud enough and long enough” that McCabe’s husband “shot up in bed.” McCabe called O’Keefe’s niece back and Read was still screaming. Read told McCabe she left O’Keefe at the Waterfall, but McCabe reminded her they had gone to Fairview Road.

At that point, Read said, “Did I hit him? Could I have hit him?” and mentioned to McCabe she had cracked her taillight.

The comment about the taillight had “no significance” at the time.

Read later showed up at McCabe’s house and continued screaming. McCabe agreed to go search for O’Keefe with Read.

3:11 p.m. - McCabe testifies about ‘celebratory mood’ inside 34 Fairview on Jan. 29, 2022

When McCabe arrived at her sister’s home, she entered through the front door with her husband. There was music playing and she sat right down in the kitchen.

She said she was expecting Read and O’Keefe to join but they never went inside the house. McCabe said she spotted what she believed to be Read’s dark SUV outside the home, first near the front door, then near the flagpole, then slightly past it.

McCabe said she had no reason to go outside to the flagpole to try and talk to Read or O’Keefe.

There was no fighting or arguing inside, she said.

McCabe said she, her husband, and two other women left around 1:45 a.m. She described turning her head to talk to the girls in the back seat as they pulled away.

“We’re all laughing and joking,” she said.

2:51 p.m. - McCabe describes ‘typical, average night’ at Canton bar

Jan. 28, 2022, was a standard evening, McCabe said. She and her sister, Nicole, were at the Waterfall with Nicole’s husband, Brian Albert, and his friend, Brian Higgins, along with Chris Albert and his wife, Julie. O’Keefe and Read were with the group inside.

She described a conversation with Read inside the bar where they talked about a new medication Read was taking. McCabe said the pair were friendly and she felt a connection with Read because both had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Brennan played surveillance video from inside the bar for McCabe, showing her hugging Read.

Shortly after the group took a shot, they decided to go back to Nicole and Brian Albert’s home at 34 Fairview Road. McCabe said they left around midnight.

2:31 p.m. - Jennifer McCabe takes the stand

McCabe began her testimony by describing her family. She told the jury she and her husband have four daughters, two of whom are in college and two are in high school.

She said she’s spent her entire life in Canton and still lives there. McCabe is at the center of one of the most contested issues in the case — the alleged 2:27 a.m. Google search for “hos long to die in the cold.”

McCabe discussed her relationship with O’Keefe, telling the jury the pair became close through their children. O’Keefe was the guardian of his niece and nephew, and his niece was good friends with one of McCabe’s daughters.

On the night of Jan. 28, 2022, McCabe went to the Waterfall Bar and Grill to meet her sister, Nicole.

2:20 p.m. - Demonstration used updated software

Under brief recross-examination from Alessi, Whiffin confirmed that the demonstration he performed for the jury used the software that had been updated to remove the 2:27 a.m. timestamp for the Google search.

Alessi then concluded his questioning, and after a brief sidebar, Brennan called Jennifer McCabe to the stand.

2:08 p.m. - Whiffin demonstrates Cellebrite tool

After the lunch break, Whiffin returned to the stand.

Brennan asked Whiffin to give the jury a demonstration of how a timestamp would be shown in Cellebrite’s physical examiner tool.

Whiffin used an iPhone with the same software version as Jennifer McCabe’s phone when she googled “hos long to die in the cold” on Jan. 29, 2022.

He did a search on the phone for the time — 2:11 p.m. — and showed the jury how it didn’t load in the tool because he hadn’t closed the tab.

After closing the tab, a record of the search appeared in the tool. The timestamp shows 2:10 p.m., which Whiffin said proved the tool showed only the time he first opened the tab.

“It was purely the time that tab was created or brought back into focus,” he said.

12:57 p.m. - Cannone calls recess

With Whiffin still on the stand, Cannone sent the jury out for a 45-minute lunch break. Brennan will continue his re-direct examination after the break.

Whiffin’s testimony has now taken about a full trial day between Monday and Tuesday.

12:48 p.m. - Other examiners confirmed ‘hos long to die in the cold’ explanation

Since Cellebrite removed the timestamp from its software, other forensic examiners have confirmed Whiffin’s research about inaccurate timestamps, he said.

Whiffin said the change to the software was not to accommodate law enforcement, but to aid Cellebrite’s consumers since the timestamps were “clearly causing confusion.” He noted that another examiner in Europe ran into a similar situation with a timestamp that “didn’t make sense.”

12:36 p.m. - Whiffin re-establishes health data

The questioning shifted to a review of the data Whiffin pulled from O’Keefe’s phone. Brennan’s questioning clearly sought to establish the ways in which Whiffin’s results lined up with the prosecution’s theory of the case.

Whiffin confirmed that the phone did not move between 12:32 a.m. and around 6:15 a.m. He also said the battery temperature could have dropped if the phone were exposed to more cold air, like when O’Keefe’s body was moved.

He testified his opinion the phone never moved from the flagpole at 34 Fairview was based on the “high accuracy” location data.

12:06 p.m. - Whiffin confirms independence

When Brennan began his redirect questioning, he focused primarily on establishing that Whiffin was not an advocate for the prosecution and not a criminal investigator.

Whiffin confirmed Brennan never attempted to shape his findings or influence his testimony.

“The data is the data,” Whiffin said.

11:50 a.m. - Whiffin defends removal of ‘hos long to die in the cold’ timestamp

At the first trial, Whiffin testified that one of Cellebrite’s tools still showed Jennifer McCabe, a friend of O’Keefe’s, searched “hos long to die in the cold” at 2:27 a.m.

Whiffin has said the timestamp is inaccurate and Cellebrite has since removed the timestamps from its software. But at Alessi’s prompting, he acknowledged one of Cellebrite’s tools still showed the 2:27 a.m. timestamp during the first trial.

Since the first trial, the timestamps have been removed. Whiffin said he was aware the 2:27 a.m. timestamp was disputed.

“Cellebrite removed that 2:27:40 timestamp, which was in a deleted state, in response to issues raised in the first proceeding, correct?” Alessi asked.

Whiffin also testified he could not independently verify the extraction of McCabe’s phone hadn’t been tampered with.

At Alessi’s prompting, he also conceded that a different software, not provided by Cellebrite, still showed the disputed timestamp.

11:25 a.m. - Whiffin pressed on ‘hills climbed’ finding

After the break, Alessi’s questioning moved to Whiffin’s history with the case.

Whiffin said he first became involved in the case in September 2023 and had only been to Norfolk County once before.

Alessi asked if Whiffin ever replicated an experiment where he drove around with an iPhone in his hand to see if the phone would detect driving as claiming stairs along the route Read and O’Keefe drove through Canton.

On Monday, Whiffin testified that driving while holding a phone could lead the device to register flights climbed.

Whiffin said he did so on Sunday night. But when Alessi asked what the result of that experiment was, Brennan objected and the lawyers were called to sidebar.

After the sidebar, Alessi moved on to a different subject.

10:49 a.m. - Cannone calls morning recess

With Whiffin still on the stand, Cannone called for a brief morning recess. Whiffin’s testimony should resume after 11 a.m.

10:40 a.m. - Alessi questions Whiffin about battery temperature

Alessi began questioning Whiffin about a series of tests he conducted documenting how an iPhone’s battery temperature would drop when placed in cold conditions.

The first test conducted by Whiffin involved putting the phone in a freezer, where the battery temperature dropped about 50 degrees in 15 minutes.

In the second test, Whiffin put the phone outside when the temperature was about 34 degrees Fahrenheit.

During that experiment, the battery temperature dropped 31 degrees in less than 15 minutes.

Whiffin testified on Monday about O’Keefe’s battery temperature falling less than 30 degrees over roughly four-and-a-half hours.

“The phone only drops 11 degrees Fahrenheit in 15 minutes, correct?” Alessi asked.

Whiffin said it was. Alessi suggested Whiffin should have tested how a phone battery would react when placed outside at the same temperature as the morning of O’Keefe’s death.

But Whiffin defended his testing, saying he didn’t know what condition O’Keefe’s phone was found in — whether it was in a pocket or in a case or something else. The testing proved that ambient temperature would affect a battery, he said.

Still, Alessi pressed on and asked Whiffin if battery temperature could show location. Whiffin said he struggled to see the connection.

10:08 a.m. - O’Keefe travelled 84 feet around 12:32 a.m.

Alessi’s questions moved to Whiffin’s conclusion that O’Keefe took 36 steps between 12:31 a.m. and 12:32 a.m. on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022.

In his report, Whiffin wrote that O’Keefe covered a distance of 25.4 meters, or 84 feet.

Alessi handed Whiffin a report written by State Police trooper Nicholas Guarino, a digital forensics expert working in the district attorney’s office. Guarino, Alessi said, concluded the distance from the flagpole to the front door at 34 Fairview Road was 72 feet.

“If the distance from the flagpole to the front of the house is 72 feet and you report notes a distance of 84 feet, that would put those steps within the house, correct?” Alessi asked.

Whiffin conceded it would.

9:37 a.m. - O’Keefe’s phone could have been in the house

Alessi’s cross-examination resumed with a line of questioning about differences between a report Whiffin wrote in March 2025 and a timeline he showed the jury Monday.

Whiffin’s report indicates that data pulled from O’Keefe’s phone showed he started moving west in the direction of the house. But Whiffin left that data out of his timeline.

“That was kind of important information, wasn’t it?” Alessi asked.

Whiffin’s report indicates the accuracy of the location data declined around 12:26 a.m. One of the reasons he lists for the declining accuracy is the device could have entered a “building or covered area,” which he conceded could have included the home at 34 Fairview Road.

“Therefore, according to your report, the phone of John O’Keefe could be in the house, correct?” Alessi asked.

After a pause, Whiffin said it could, based on the low-accuracy location data from that time.

The defense has said O’Keefe entered the home and was fatally beaten inside.

9:14 a.m. - Court opens for the day

As she does at the beginning of each trial day, Cannone asked jurors if they had been able to follow her instructions about discussing the case and avoiding media coverage. Each juror said they had.

On Monday, the jury heard from Whiffin about a variety of data taken from O’Keefe’s cell phone he said showed O’Keefe remained outside throughout the morning of Jan. 29, 2022.

Read, 45, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of O’Keefe, who was found outside the home of a fellow Boston police officer on Jan. 29, 2022.

Norfolk County prosecutors say Read struck O’Keefe with her SUV while driving intoxicated. Read’s attorneys say her car never struck O’Keefe and that others are to blame for his death.