Karen Read’s legal team is nearing the end of the case for her defense with crash reconstruction expert Dr. Daniel Wolfe called to the stand Friday.

It was the 28th day of her retrial on murder and other charges in the death of her former boyfriend, a 46-year-old Boston police officer named John O’Keefe. 

Wolfe is the director of accident reconstruction at a firm called ARCCA. 

Karen Read and John O’Keefe together in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Karen Read)

Special prosecutor Hank Brennan unsuccessfully tried to have Wolfe and a colleague, Dr. Andrew Renstchler, blocked from testifying before the start of the trial.

Wolfe testified during the first trial, which ended with a deadlocked jury, that damage to Read’s SUV is inconsistent with a collision involving O’Keefe.

Karen Read attends her murder trial in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Libby O’Neill/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)

Read told reporters outside court Wednesday that her defense could rest as soon as next Tuesday. There was no court on Thursday.

She could face up to life in prison if convicted. Her first trial, in which the defense claimed she had been framed, ended with a deadlocked jury last year.