Karen Read’s defense team is looking to build on momentum yesterday from a surprise police witness who testified that her taillight was less damaged when he helped seize it with a warrant than it appears in photos taken after it arrived at the Canton Police Department, where authorities first towed it.

Taillight fragments weren’t found at the crime scene until later, too, and her defense’s implication is that they could have been planted there.

Wednesday marks the 27th day of Read’s retrial on murder and other charges in the January 2022 death of her then-boyfriend, Boston cop John O’Keefe.

Grace Edwards, a Massachusetts defense attorney who is also following the case, called Barros’ testimony a “bombshell” and said the surprise in trial 1 was “a clear Brady violation” – referring to a rule that prosecutors must share exculpatory evidence with the defense. 

“The fact that a police officer drove to the Omni Hotel to meet with the defense team of a defendant on trial for murder clearly indicates he wanted to tell his story,” she told Fox News Digital.

Dr. Judson Welcher, an expert for the prosecution, explained to jurors how he found that O’Keefe appeared to have been struck in the arm by the back corner of Read’s SUV before he fell to the ground and fractured the back of his skull.

Christina Hanley, an analyst with the state police’s crime lab, testified that investigators recovered plastic fragments from O’Keefe’s clothing that were a match with the broken taillight or something made of the same material.

Read could face life in prison if convicted of the top charge, second-degree murder.