During Karen Read’s defense, a crash reconstructionist is set to play a crucial role. The reconstructionist disclosed on Monday, outside the presence of the jurors, that he had communicated with Read’s legal team during the initial trial. He also admitted to receiving information regarding previous testimonies despite a sequestration order in place.
In the first trial, Dr. Daniel Wolfe testified about the damage on Read’s SUV, which is believed to be the murder weapon. He pointed out inconsistencies in connection to a supposed collision with John O’Keefe, the Boston police officer discovered deceased on a colleague’s front lawn during a blizzard on January 29, 2022.
Dr. Wolfe appeared once more on the stand during a heated evidence session on Monday. Special prosecutor Hank Brennan flagged concerns about discovery delays a week into Read’s second murder trial. The initial trial had culminated in a hung jury.
He admitted to sharing talking points with the defense during the first trial, apparently violating a sequestration order by receiving information on prior witness testimony, and later discussing the case with her defense on the encrypted messaging app, Signal.
The Waterfall Bar and Grill in Canton, Mass. (Richard Beetham for Fox News Digital)
Combined, they show O’Keefe stopped answering his phone shortly after 12:30 a.m. while near a flagpole outside the address, and it didn’t move again until he was discovered around 6:04 a.m.
Around that time, paramedics lifted his body onto a stretcher, and the battery temperature, no longer insulated beneath him, fell rapidly before heating up once it was picked up by another person.
Prosecutors used his testimony to shoot down a defense theory that O’Keefe was injured somewhere else and moved to where his remains were recovered the next morning.
Read has pleaded not guilty. Her defense argued in opening statements last week that her SUV never struck O’Keefe.
Prosecutors allege that after spending hours drinking, she backed into O’Keefe during a drunken argument outside the home, where other acquaintances were inside for an after-party, and drove away, leaving him to die in a snowstorm.
Whiffin is expected to return to the stand Tuesday for cross-examination at 9 a.m.
