Wearing two black gloves and slamming his palms on the podium Monday, Karen Read’s defense attorney Robert Alessi moved for a mistrial for a second time in her retrial on murder charges in the death of her former boyfriend, Boston cop John O’Keefe. 

The exchange, based on special prosecutor Hank Brennan’s questioning of a defense witness regarding holes in the back of O’Keefe’s sweatshirt that were put there by a state crime lab employee, got Alessi trending among true crime followers on X Monday afternoon, but it also drew praise from defense attorneys who are not connected to the case.

Read’s defense denies the prosecution’s allegation that she killed O’Keefe by backing into him with her Lexus SUV amid a drunken argument and fled the scene. They have maintained that the vehicle never struck him at all, and that something else caused his injuries.

“If I’m Alessi, I’m throwing out those missiles every time,” said Louis Gelormino, a New York City defense lawyer. 

Jack Lu, a former Massachusetts judge and now a law professor at Boston College, was more forgiving of the special prosecutor.

“To the aspiring trial lawyer-law student, it shows that even the greatest stumble,” he told Fox News Digital. “What a grueling occupation.”

Dr. Elizabeth Laposata returns to the stand Tuesday for a second day of testimony as the defense nears an end to its case. She testified Monday that O’Keefe’s skull fracture was consistent with a backward fall – but something else, possibly a fist, caused the cut above his right eye.

Read could face up to life in prison if convicted of the top charge of second-degree murder. She is also accused of drunken driving manslaughter and leaving the scene.