Commonwealth v. Read — Trial ArchiveKelly Dever
Testimony Impact
Officer Kelly Dever was assigned to the Canton Police Department dispatch room on the overnight shift of January 28–29, 2022, the night John O'Keefe was found dead outside 34 Fairview Road. In August 2023, she told law enforcement agents that she had seen Brian Higgins and Canton Police Chief Kenneth Berkowitz enter the Sallyport together and alone with the SUV — a statement with potential significance to the defense's evidence-tampering theory. By the time she testified in Trial 2, Dever had retracted that account, testifying that new factual information had convinced her the memory was false. Her testimony also encompassed a contested claim that defense attorneys threatened her with perjury charges during a pre-trial phone call, and the unusual circumstance of Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox summoning her personally to his office before trial.
Challenges & Responses
What attorneys challenged during examination and how the witness responded.
Dever faced challenges on multiple fronts: Jackson confronted her with her August 2023 sworn statement directly contradicting her trial testimony; established that she is personal friends with Sarah Levinson since middle school and had watched trial footage despite sequestration rules; elicited inconsistent answers about whether Boston PD's general counsel was present at the commissioner's meeting; and pointed out that her claimed perjury threat to the FBI left no documentary record. Dever maintained throughout that she came forward to correct a false memory despite pressure from both sides, and Brennan used recross to reinforce that she had never alleged Higgins or Berkowitz actually tampered with evidence or framed anyone.
Notable Quotes From The Record
“Given factual information that makes it so I know I did not. So the answer is no.”
Dever's current position that her Sallyport observation was a false memory, contradicting her 2023 interview statement.
“That was my recollection at the time.”
The retained quote records Dever’s characterization of her earlier account; this record does not establish the prior law-enforcement interview statement as sworn or oath-equivalent.
“He supports me and just wanted me to tell the truth up here, and his words were 'do the right thing.'”
Dever testified that Commissioner Cox told her he supported her and wanted her to tell the truth and ‘do the right thing.’ She said he did not intend to guide her either way.
“I told them on the day of that I saw that. I didn't make any indications it was anything bad. I just said I saw them, and it was in good faith that I believed I saw that.”
Dever frames her original statement as innocent and her retraction as evidence-based, not coerced
“They were looking for me to say that I saw Higgins and Berkowitz in the garage with the car.”
Dever said call participants wanted her to say she saw Higgins and Berkowitz in the garage with the car.
“They became very aggressive, raised their voices, and the one word that I can very definitely remember is they said that they would charge me with perjury.”
Dever's account that call participants became aggressive and that one male defense-team member said they would charge her with perjury.
“There is discomfort with the way that there's attempting to guide what my testimony is, but I don't feel any need to fall into it because I'm here to speak the truth on the stand.”
Dever signals discomfort with the defense's direct examination approach while asserting independence
“Oh, they did. Yes. I contacted the FBI regarding it.”
Dever says she contacted the FBI and describes an email exchange and legal-team response; she then says she has no FBI report documenting the alleged threat.
“Sarah Levinson.”
Dever identifies Sarah Levinson as the one person connected to the case whom she considered a personal friend.
“Correct. In small clips. Yes.”
Dever admits watching trial footage despite a sequestration order she claims not to have known about
“Yes, they wanted me to repeat a lie — at that point, given it would have been with malicious intent to repeat it.”
Dever escalates her characterization of the defense's conduct from pressure to demanding she knowingly commit perjury.
“My entire job revolves around what I say on the stand right now. If I were to lie, I lose my job. I lose everything. I'm here to tell the truth. I cannot lie while sitting on this stand.”
Dever's closing statement frames her testimony correction as career self-preservation and moral obligation, the emotional capstone of Brennan's examination.
“If I was to lie, then yes.”
Dever maintains her recantation by framing the original statement as a lie, but the answer concedes the implication framework Jackson constructed.
“No. Never. No.”
Emphatic denial that she ever suggested Higgins and Berkowitz tampered with the defendant's vehicle
“I have no one to protect.”
Direct rebuttal to the defense implication from re-redirect that Dever's career incentives motivated her to shield fellow officers
Key Moments
- Dever confirmed under direct examination that she had told law enforcement agents on August 9, 2023, that she saw Brian Higgins and Chief Kenneth Berkowitz go into the Sallyport together and alone — the core prior statement the defense had sought to introduce — but testified that she no longer believed that memory was accurate.
- Dever testified that Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, in an unprecedented personal meeting, summoned her to his office and told her to 'do the right thing' — the only time in her career the commissioner had reached out to her directly about a case, a fact Jackson used to suggest institutional pressure on her testimony.
- On cross-examination, Dever accused the defense team of becoming aggressive during a pre-trial phone call, raising their voices and threatening to charge her with perjury — a claim she said was the clearest word she remembered from the exchange.
- During redirect, Jackson confronted Dever with the lack of documentation for the alleged perjury threat: she had reported it to the FBI, she said, but acknowledged there was no formal report — only an email in which someone acknowledged she had said she felt pressured.
- Jackson closed his redirect by pressing Dever on the career stakes of her recantation — noting that implicating two fellow officers by name in connection with an evidence vehicle carried professional consequences — while Dever maintained she was testifying truthfully despite that pressure.