During Karen Read’s trial, the prosecution tried to solidify its version of events regarding the death of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. They relied on evidence from a crash expert indicating that Read was present at the crime scene when O’Keefe met his demise.
Karen Read, aged 45, stands accused of allegedly striking her partner, 46-year-old John O’Keefe, with her Lexus SUV in a state of intoxication on the early morning of January 29, 2022. O’Keefe was allegedly then left to freeze to death in the yard of a colleague’s house in Canton, Massachusetts.
On a particular day, special prosecutor Hank Brennan called upon Dr. Judson Welcher to testify as the state’s probable final witness. Dr. Welcher, an expert in accident reconstruction and biomechanical engineering working for Aperture LLC, revealed that the vehicle data recorded by Read’s car did not show any signs of a collision on the day of O’Keefe’s passing. Nonetheless, he clarified that this absence of evidence was not surprising as the system is designed to detect crashes between vehicles and not with pedestrians.
“Based on the totality of the evidence, DNA, everything I’ve talked about, that is consistent with that happening,” Welcher said. “With a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, that is what happened.”
Welcher’s testimony served to further solidify the data findings by Burgess and Cellebrite expert Ian Whiffin, who previously took the stand as witnesses for the prosecution in Read’s case.
The prosecution is expected to rest its case this week after an entire day of Welcher’s direct examination. If convicted of the top charge, second-degree murder, Read faces the possibility of life in prison.
“So far, without cross-examination, the defense is having a bad day,” Lu said.
