Commonwealth v. Read — Trial ArchiveConnor Keefe
Testimony Impact
Connor Keefe is a Massachusetts State Police trooper assigned to the Norfolk DA's CPAC homicide unit, with additional duties as a digital forensic examiner. He was present at the scene on January 29, 2022, where he obtained consent forms and extracted phones from Jennifer McCabe and Kerry Roberts, and collected physical evidence including taillight fragments and a black Nike shoe. He also attended John O'Keefe's autopsy alongside lead investigator Michael Proctor. Keefe testified in Trial 2 on Day 11, covering both his evidence collection role and his subordinate relationship to Proctor as the controlling investigator.
Notable Quotes From The Record
“I am assigned to the homicide unit where we investigate homicides, unattended deaths, suicides, stuff like that. And I'm also a digital forensic examiner at the district attorney's office.”
Establishes Keefe's dual role and qualifications for handling both physical evidence and digital forensics.
“I obtained a consent form and their cellular device.”
Documents that McCabe and Roberts voluntarily surrendered their phones with consent forms — not via warrant.
“I conducted a forensic extraction on those devices.”
Confirms Keefe performed the GrayKey extraction but clarifies his role was limited to copying, not analysis.
“If you're processing multiple things at once, you're bagging things at different times. Then when you seal the bag, that could be the time that is annotated on the bag.”
Explains why evidence bag timestamps may not match the actual time items were discovered — relevant to timeline reconstruction.
“I did not have any input on how he wrote this report.”
Establishes that Proctor alone chose the language in investigative reports, without review by the assisting trooper.
“I only obtained a copy of the surveillance video. I did not do any analysis on the video.”
Illustrates the division of labor — Keefe did retrieval work while Proctor controlled all analysis and reporting.
“Not when I was there.”
Confirms no defense attorney or expert was present at O'Keefe's autopsy, underscoring the one-sided nature of the examination.
“We don't give input. We give the facts that we know so far in the case.”
Keefe's distinction between 'input' and 'facts' during the autopsy discussion, which Yannetti immediately challenges.
Key Moments
- Keefe established that Jennifer McCabe and Kerry Roberts surrendered their phones voluntarily via consent forms — not under warrant — and that he personally performed the GrayKey forensic extraction, though his role ended at copying the data, with all subsequent analysis handled by Proctor.
- Keefe explained that evidence bag timestamps can lag behind actual discovery times when multiple items are being processed simultaneously, a detail relevant to the defense's timeline arguments about when physical evidence was collected at the scene.
- On cross-examination, Keefe acknowledged he had no input into how Proctor wrote his investigative reports, establishing that Proctor alone controlled the language and framing of official case documents.
- Keefe confirmed that no defense attorney or independent expert was present at O'Keefe's autopsy, a point Yannetti used to underscore the one-sided nature of the post-mortem examination.
- Keefe was confronted with his initial denial of participating in a joint interview with Proctor and Sarah Levinson, then reversed course after being shown the relevant report — the most direct impeachment moment of his testimony.