Prosecutors and Karen Read’s defense team both claimed in their opening statements Tuesday that the science and the facts presented at trial will support their case.
Prosecutor Hank Brennan repeatedly stressed cell phone data he contends will map John O’Keefe’s final movements: Location data will outline O’Keefe’s journey to 34 Fairview Road, the home where his body was later found. The phone’s data will also show when his body stopped moving, Brennan said, and when the phone’s battery life dropped precipitously – indicating the moment his body was left lying in the snow.
Additionally, black box data from Read’s vehicle “coincides” with the cellphone data, Brennan said, claiming it would support the prosecution’s allegations Read reversed at a high speed and struck O’Keefe.
Meanwhile, defense attorney Alan Jackson similarly claimed the science is on his client’s side. The defense will call a forensic pathologist who will testify O’Keefe did not suffer from hypothermia, Jackson said:
“His body showed no signs of it, no frostbite, no cold-induced injuries to his organs, no damage based on cold or frost.”
Scientific and medical evidence “will establish that John O’Keefe had to be injured somewhere else, somewhere warmer, and his body had to have been moved out into the cold.”
Additionally, Jackson outlined several pieces of evidence at the heart of the defense’s allegations of a police cover-up, specifically taking aim at the purported actions of fellow officer Brian Albert, whose family owned the home where O’Keefe’s body was found.
The defense has suggested the family’s large dog was responsible for some of O’Keefe’s injuries – but the family rehomed the pet shortly after the victim’s death. The family also sold the home at 34 Fairview Road, Jackson said, and Albert, along with another police officer present that night, both got rid of their phones.
“Dog rehomed, phones destroyed, house sold,” Jackson said. “You’ll learn that all these things happened shortly after the incident where John O’Keefe was found unresponsive and dying in Brian Albert’s front lawn.”
