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A forensics expert zeroed in on two pieces of evidence ahead of Karen Read’s murder trial — the autopsy and the way the victim’s clothes were handled — and said he believes the medical examiner’s testimony will be pivotal.
Read allegedly hit her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, with her car and left him to die in the snow, prosecutors said. Read denied the allegations and claimed there was a cover-up to frame her.
O’Keefe’s official cause of death is listed as “undetermined,” which sets up the medical examiner as the “big star” of the trial, forensics expert John Scott Morgan told Fox News Digital.
“I urge everybody that’s following this case to really pay close attention to what the medical examiner says, because they will be asked to explain the logic behind listing this as an undetermined,” Morgan said. “I would expect the defense to particularly focus in on that question, and it will be framed in a manner in which they will say, ‘Well, you know, we’ve got the prosecutor here that is saying that this is, in fact, a murder. What is it, doctor, what is keeping you from ruling this as a homicide?”
Kearney’s lawyer told the judge his client “vehemently denies” the accusations when Kearney pleaded not guilty, saying his client’s opinions are protected by the First Amendment.
Kearney was indicted on over a dozen felonies involving witness intimidation. He also served 60 days in jail for violating a protective order, but he has since been freed and is waiting for his own trial.
“The influence of media, social media, the sidebars with the turtle blogger. All the information that’s been going back and forth from the DA’s office and the defense team. I think it’s going to be a long road to pick an impartial jury,” Suffolk University Law Professor Christopher Dearborn told CBS News.
Fox News Digital’s Mitch Picasso contributed to this report.
