Live court video, updates: Day 2 of witness testimony in Karen Read’s retrial

DEDHAM, Mass. — Witness testimony in Karen Read’s retrial entered its second day on Wednesday with Kerry Roberts, Margaret O’Keefe, Nicholas Guarino, and Daniel Whitley being called to the stand by special prosecutor Hank Brennan.

Read is accused of striking her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, with her SUV in 2022 and leaving him to die alone in the snow outside of a house party in Canton. She has been charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence, and leaving the scene.

Currently on the stand: Daniel Whitley, of the Canton Fire Department:

Previously on the stand today: Margaret O’Keefe, Kerry Roberts, Nicholas Guarino.

• Boston 25’s Ted Daniel is providing live updates from the courthouse. Follow along with his play-by-play on X:

Highlights from Day 2 of testimony:

Roberts was on the stand for more than three hours before the court broke for lunch.

Roberts testified Wednesday that Read asked her, “Do you think I hit him?”

“She said, ‘Do you think I hit him?’” Roberts told the court. “And I said, ‘No, I don’t think you hit him. What are you talking about? Let’s just go find him.’”

Brennan later called his third witness, Margaret O’Keefe, to the stand when the court reconvened.

O’Keefe broke down on the stand as she described encounters with Karen Read at the hospital on the night of her son’s death.

“As I’m walking down, I hear Karen Read yell, ‘Peg, is he dead? Is he dead, Peg?’ And I just kept walking,” O’Keefe recalled. “I asked her what happened, and she said, ‘We went to a party. I left him there.’ I said, you just left him there. She said ‘Yes, I just left him there.’”

Brennan next called Guarino, his fourth witness, to the stand.

Guarino testified about his analysis of O’Keefe and Read’s phones, stating that he conducted extractions of several phones during the Read investigation.

Whitley took the stand after Guarino was excused by Brennan.

Recap of 1st day of witness testimony:

The first witnesses called by the prosecution took the stand on Tuesday following opening statements.

Kerry Roberts, a friend of John O’Keefe, and Timothy Nuttall, one of the first responders who arrived at 34 Fairview Road in Canton on January 29, 2022, both gave testimony.

When leaving court on Tuesday, Read expressed confidence in her team of lawyers to reporters.

“I feel great, today went well. We prepped hard, and I’m just proud of my team. I can’t be prouder, and we have the truth, so we forge ahead,” Read said.

Special prosecutor Hank Brennan delivered opening remarks on behalf of the Commonwealth, while defense attorney Alan Jackson opened for the Read legal team.

“I hit him, I hit him, I hit him,” Brennan opened with. Jackson countered, “There was no collision with John O’Keefe.”

Brennan told jurors that “facts and data” will lead them to the truth, and that Read’s own statements will confirm it.

Jackson said that the prosecution’s case was based on a “brazen and flawed assertion that is untethered to the facts and the evidence.”

Kerry Roberts, who was close friends with O’Keefe and with Read when she found his body, is expected to be back on the stand on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Roberts told the jury that Read called her at 5 a.m. the day after the house party, screamed “Kerry! Kerry! Kerry! John’s dead!” and hung up. Roberts then went to O’Keefe’s house with Read to search for him and then to the Albert home.

Roberts said she couldn’t see anything when they pulled up, but that Read said, “There he is,” and jumped out of the car.

“She ran right over to the mound of snow,” Roberts said. “Once she got to it, you could tell it was a mound of snow the length of a body.”

Nuttall testified that Read was frantic when he encountered her at the scene of O’Keefe’s death, noting she said, “I hit him” three times. During cross-examination, Jackson pointed out that Nuttall testified at the first trial that Read said “I hit him” twice, not three times.

As the trial opened inside Dedham’s Norfolk Superior Court, a man who police say refused to exit the buffer zone surrounding the courthouse was arrested.

Judge Beverly Cannone ordered that the 200-foot buffer zone remain in effect for Read’s second trial and be extended to include the area bounded by Bates Court, Bullard Street, Ames Street, and Court Street.

Prosecutors allege Read intentionally backed into O’Keefe after she dropped him off at a house party and returned hours later to find him dead. The defense has claimed that she was a victim of a vast police conspiracy and that O’Keefe was fatally beaten by another law enforcement officer at the party.

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A mistrial was declared last year after jurors said they were at an impasse and deliberating further would be futile.

The biggest difference in the current trial is the lead prosecutor, Brennan. Brought in as a special prosecutor after the mistrial, the former defense attorney has represented a number of prominent clients, including notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger.

Read has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death.

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