Commonwealth v. Read — Trial Archive
Person Brian Tully Trial 1Massachusetts State Police detective lieutenant who oversaw parts of the investigation and testified about the evidence search and phone-location records. ← All People
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Brian Tully

Courtroom still of Brian Tully.

Massachusetts State Police detective lieutenant who oversaw parts of the investigation and testified about the evidence search and phone-location records.

Trial 1
711 lines 5 proceedings

About

Brian Tully described his supervisory role in the investigation of John O’Keefe’s death. He said Canton police provided support rather than leading the investigation because of an appearance of conflict involving a Canton officer’s relationship with the homeowner at 34 Fairview Road. He testified about the search outside the house, where a sneaker and red and clear plastic pieces were recovered, and about how the evidence was documented and stored. Defense counsel questioned why investigators did not seek consent or a warrant to search inside the house. Tully said they had no basis to do so. He acknowledged that his later report did not accurately document the plastic collection, but said the contemporaneous evidence-bag notes and his memory were more accurate. Tully also described surveillance footage showing black SUVs he considered consistent with Karen Read’s vehicle and explained that cell-site records indicated a phone’s general area, not its exact location. When defense counsel used his range maps to propose a travel-speed calculation, Tully accepted the arithmetic under the stated premise but disputed that the records showed the phone moving between those mapped distances in that interval. He said he would need to review Verizon’s records key to determine whether the listed times marked the first and last distances.

Trial Record (5)

Trial 1 First Criminal Trial Apr 29, 2024 – Jul 1, 2024 5 proceedings

Day 23

Direct Brian Tully - Direct Brian Tully Adam Lally 2 highlights 137 lines spoken
Summary

Tully described oversight of the investigation, the SERT search and recovery of a sneaker and plastic pieces at 34 Fairview Road, and evidence handling; three physical-evidence exhibits were admitted.

Highlights (2)
Quote

“I expressed my displeasure in his unprofessionalism and the content of them.”

Tully described his supervisory response after learning of Proctor's text messages.

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Day 24

Direct Brian Tully — Continued Direct Examination on Video and Cell-Phone Records Brian Tully Adam Lally 3 highlights 197 lines spoken
Summary

Tully described surveillance video and phone-location records, explained their limits, and authenticated Exhibits 572 through 576.

Highlights (3)
Quote

“I don't believe that Mr. O'Keefe entered the home. So I had no nexus to the house.”

Tully explained why he said investigators did not seek to search the interior of 34 Fairview Road.

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Quote

“I can make generalizations that the phone is going to be in the area of the antenna. But I would never, with just that specific information, be able to tell you exactly where it is.”

Tully stated a limitation of using cell-site listing information alone to locate a phone.

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Key Moment

Tully described video observations of a black SUV traveling on Washington Street at approximately 12:15 to 12:17 a.m. and again between 5:11 and 5:18 a.m.; he said the SUV was consistent with the defendant's vehicle.

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Cross Brian Tully - Cross Brian Tully Alan Jackson 5 highlights 320 lines spoken
Summary

Tully was cross-examined on the unsearched house, sally port video, discrepancies in taillight-plastic documentation, and the limits of his cell-phone analysis; Exhibit 577 was admitted.

Highlights (5)
Quote

“No. I don't know when these distances were created. It doesn't say start of procedure distance. It says first distance, last distance.”

Tully distinguished the RTT record's distance fields from the procedure's listed start and end times.

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Quote

“Well, the person has given statements multiple times and it appears to have changed over those times.”

Tully explained why he questioned the reliability of the Ford Edge account.

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Key Moment

Tully testified that he did not review the clear sally port video in detail, did not note that it was inverted, and did not know when the video was provided to Trooper Proctor.

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Show 1 more
Key Moment

Tully acknowledged five plastic pieces in Exhibits 570 and 571, while his report described three; he said the report did not properly memorialize the collection and speculated that a small fragment may have separated from a larger piece.

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Redirect Brian Tully - Redirect Examination Brian Tully Adam Lally 3 highlights 33 lines spoken
Summary

Tully addressed the Ford Edge account, video recording behavior, evidence-bag notes, and limits of phone-location records; he gave a qualified 5:18 location opinion.

Highlights (3)
Quote

“It appeared to be motion activated. As these jumps occurred, it appeared to be triggered by motion.”

Tully gave his observation-based explanation for the video recording pattern after the court limited hearsay-based testimony.

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Quote

“The difference would be the notes on the outside of the bag happened at the time of collection. And then I wrote my report 11 days later.”

Tully distinguished contemporaneous evidence-bag notes from his later report.

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Quote

“Well, relevant, I'll zero in at 5:18. I would suggest that the defendant, her vehicle and the cell phone were on Washington Street, outside of the Temple Beth Abraham at that time. That is one thing that I would be comfortable suggesting.”

Tully gave a qualified location opinion based on his review of the phone records and other evidence.

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Recross Brian Tully - Recross Brian Tully Alan Jackson 1 highlights 23 lines spoken
Summary

Tully qualified the timing information associated with his RTT range-map depiction after an RTT record sheet was marked for identification.

Highlights (1)
Quote

“The times were not part of the depiction of the range. I will suggest to you that it is probably unbelievable that those are actually start and end times. What I am saying is we don't know for certainty that that is the exact time of the first distance and the last distance. I'd have to look back at the records.”

Tully qualified the relationship between the Verizon times and the distances used in the range depiction.

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Locations Touched By This Testimony

34 Fairview Road 4 procs Canton Police Department 4 procs Canton PD Sally Port 2 procs Good Samaritan Medical Center 2 procs Waterfall Bar & Grille 2 procs