Karen Read appeared visibly upset during the high-profile murder trial of her Boston police officer boyfriend — rolling her eyes and snapping her head back to her legal team — moments after jurors heard a witness’s emotional testimony.
Read, 44, entered day 12 of the trial on Wednesday in Dedham Superior Court in Massachusetts, where she’s facing second-degree murder charges for allegedly reversing her car into her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, and leaving him for dead.
Read denies killing O’Keefe, claiming she’s the scapegoat in a conspiracy involving various branches of Massachusetts law enforcement.
Her defense claimed O’Keefe was killed in a fight at his friend Brian Albert’s home and evidence has been fumbled or doctored to make her look guilty.
But what garnered the sour reaction from the once-smiling, bubbly murder suspect came after the court testimony from Allison McCabe.
McCabe is the daughter of Jennifer McCabe, who was with Read and another woman when they discovered O’Keefe’s body in the snow around 6 a.m. Jan. 29, 2022.
Read’s attorneys claimed Jennifer McCabe played a key role in the alleged cover-up.
Allison McCabe gave tear-filled testimony to the court, coming to the defense of Colin Albert — one of the men Read’s legal team claims was involved in the fight at Brian Albert’s home that resulted in O’Keefe’s death.
She told the court she had picked up Colin Albert to drive him home on the night of O’Keefe’s death and that he was not at Brian Albert’s home during the alleged fight.
The college student broke down on the stand while explaining Colin Albert has faced ruthless “harassment” by “bloggers, people online” over the accusation.
“Colin wasn’t at the house. He’s being harassed for … he was not at the house when John [O’Keefe] was there. I drove him home. People are harassing him saying he was at the house when it’s not true. … Constant phone calls. Emails. Awful messages,” Allie McCabe said on the stand.
As the court broke for recess after Allison McCabe’s testimony, Read conferred with her counsel.
Read rolled her eyes, snapped her head back, and aggressively muttered something to her lawyer.
Following the break, the court was shown text messages between Colin Albert and Allison McCabe from the night of Jan. 28-29, 2022, in which he asks her to pick him up.
At 11:45 p.m., he texted her “U can get me now. If easier,” to which she replied minutes later, “ok I am driving ppl home now.”
Colin Albert replied, “Word” followed by “Get me after.”
At 12:10 a.m. Jan. 29, 2022, Allison McCabe messaged him, “Here,” and Colin Albert replied, “Ok.”
Following the messages, Colin Albert took the stand, where he told the court he left Brian Albert’s home about 30 seconds after Allison McCabe texted him.
Colin Albert said he never saw O’Keefe the night he died.
O’Keefe, 46, was found unconscious in a snowbank with skull fractures, swollen eyes and hypothermia outside a house in suburban Canton, 14 miles south of Boston.
He was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton, where he was pronounced dead, with an autopsy later showing he died from hypothermia and head trauma.
