Was John O’Keefe alive to hear the “last words” from Karen Read when he died on January 29, 2022? This was a crucial question that prosecutors and her defense team aimed to answer in her retrial for murder charges in connection to his death.
Each side sought to fit them into the context of their respective cases.
While in an ambulance following the discovery of O’Keefe buried under snow near another officer’s home, paramedics were informed by Read about an altercation she had with her boyfriend, both parties acknowledge this fact.
But a key point of contention Friday arose during the testimony of a Canton firefighter and paramedic named Jason Becker.
Dr. Garrey Faller examined defendant Karen Read’s medical records while providing testimony during her trial on Friday, April 25, 2025, at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts. (Josh Reynolds/New York Post via AP, Pool)
Dr. Garrey Faller also tookx the stand Friday. He oversaw the pathology lab when Read arrived Jan. 29, 2022, the same morning O’Keefe was found dead.
Faller testified Read had a blood alcohol level of .093%. when hospital staff collected a sample just after 9 a.m.
She and O’Keefe left the Waterfall Bar and Grille in Canton around midnight. Prosecutors played a clip Thursday from an interview in which she discussed spiking her own drinks with extra shots.
Before the testimony kicked off for the day, jurors were transported to view the crime scene at 34 Fairview Road in Canton. Police also towed in Read’s Lexus SUV to place it in the street outside the house, so jurors could see it in place and where a broken taillight had been.
The first week of testimony is in the books. The trial was initially expected to take six to eight weeks.
