Karen Read trial live: Witness who heard Read say ‘I hit him’ grilled during cross examination

During the first day of the trial, the court heard that lead investigator Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor told friends he had searched the suspect’s phone for nudes.

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Witness accounts of the night O’Keefe died were revealed in early April in court documents unsealed following a request from The Boston Globe.

Ms Read and O’Keefe met a friend, Jennifer McCabe, at a local bar the evening of 28 January 2022, according to witness statements. As the bar closed, the group was invited to the home of Nicole Albert and her husband Brian, a former fellow Boston police officer.

Ms Read told police she subsequently dropped O’Keefe off at the Alberts’ home. Ms Read said she went home afterwards due to stomach problems.

In the early hours of the morning on 29 January 2022, Ms McCabe said Ms Read called her in distress. The finance professor said she had tried to contact O’Keefe and could not reach him, Ms McCabe told authorities. They later met up with another friend, Kerry Roberts, who received similar calls from Ms Read.

Ms Roberts told police Ms Read called and said her boyfriend was dead, claiming he may have been hit by a snowplough. Ms McCabe also told police Ms Read asked her, “Could I have hit him?”

The group then said they found O’Keefe unresponsive lying in the snow in front of the Alberts’ home. Ms Roberts began CPR, and Ms McCabe called the police.

After paramedics arrived, witnesses said Ms Read repeatedly asked if her boyfriend was dead. Responding troopers also observed Ms Read had a broken taillight.

You can read more on the case here.

Matthew McCabe told the prosecution how he and a group of friends were at the bar until around midnight the night of the alleged murder.

He explained that the group at The Waterfall included his wife Jennifer, along with members of the Albert family: Nicole, Chris and Julie Albert, as well as a few other friends.

At some point later on in the evening, he said Mr O’Keefe and Karen Read showed up, along with other members of the Albert family.

Prosecutors asked Colin Albert if he had ever had any issues with the victim, including whether they had argued about women.

The witness replied to each question with “never”.

He was then asked about people writing about him online, which he said began around a year ago.

“People on Twitter, Instagram, social media were just coming at my family, calling us murderers, harassing us, turning up to our doorsteps, our sports games,” he said. “We couldn’t leave the house without people taking pictures of us.”

The defence presented a photo of Colin Albert with grazed knuckles from February 2022, which he claimed happened when he fell over while with friends.

Defence attorney Alan Jackson said this wasn’t true, instead saying the injury showed the witness had been in a fight around the time the photo was taken, not long after Mr O’Keefe died.

Mr Jackson said police did not do enough to investigate those inside the Alberts’ home on 29 January 2022 and that Colin Albert’s injury backed his assertion that the witness has violent tendencies.

Last week, Ms Read snapped at her defense attorneys during a break and the entire exchange was captured by cameras in the courtroom.

The incident happened after testimony and Read rolled her eyes and then looked sharply at her lawyers.

Karen Read’s attorney has tried to paint Colin Albert as a violent individual, by showing videos from his phone and social media that included him saying he would “f**k you up” to unknown individuals he was potentially upset with.

Mr Albert claimed these were from sometime during high school, meaning they were made a few years before the night John O’Keefe died.

Ms Read’s defence team believes Mr Albert did have the means and the motive to attack the victim and will be hoping these videos show that he has violent tendencies.

Alan Jackson, the defense attorney for Karen Read, questioned Jen McCabe about the exact phrasing of her words to a grand jury that convened to bring charges agaisnt the defendant.

He pointed out that Ms McCabe told the jury earlier in the trial that she heard Ms Read say “I hit him” three times, but that in her grand jury testimony she says she recalled hearing Ms Read say “Did I hit him? Could I have hit him?”

Ms McCabe said she was “answering the question” she was asked by Mr Jackson, and not reciting what she said to the grand jury.

“The truth of this matter is that you manufactured this story for the jury because it helps you out,” Mr Jackson said.

Ms McCabe said that was “absolutely not” her intention.