Commonwealth v. Read — Trial ArchiveMarietta Sullivan
Testimony Impact
Marietta Sullivan knew John O'Keefe as a near-familial figure — he was godfather to her nephew — and met Karen Read for the first and only time during a family trip to Aruba over New Year's 2021-2022. Her testimony centered on an incident in the hotel lobby in which Read loudly and profanely told Sullivan to go to herself after Sullivan greeted O'Keefe. Sullivan also described O'Keefe's subsequent uncharacteristic avoidance of her family for the remainder of the trip, and his visibly intoxicated state during the lobby encounter. She was later interviewed by Trooper Proctor in Pembroke on February 8, 2022, despite having no presence at either the Waterfall Bar & Grille or 34 Fairview Road on the nights in question.
Notable Quotes From The Record
“He was similar to a big brother to me. He was somebody who was there for my sister during her darkest times, so I really respected him for that.”
Establishes Sullivan's close, familial relationship with O'Keefe, providing context for why Read's jealousy was unfounded.
“So he sort of stumbled in. Um, I came out of the elevator and my initial response to him was, 'Whoa, you okay?' — I actually said, 'Whoo, Godfather, are you okay?'”
Describes O'Keefe's intoxicated state when the lobby encounter occurred.
“That's when Miss Read's head snapped up, and she very loudly told me to go [expletive] myself across the lobby. And I said, 'Yeah, you too,' and walked away.”
Key incident of Read's hostile reaction to a woman interacting with O'Keefe, used to establish jealousy and volatility.
“As far as I knew Johnny, that wasn't normal. He would always come up to us, up to our family, try to be around my nephew — his godchild — and he was always the life of the party.”
Sullivan characterizes O'Keefe's subsequent avoidance of the family as abnormal, implying Read's influence isolated him.
“They spoke to my sister first, and —”
Establishes Sullivan was not the sole reason for the Pembroke visit, undermining the cross implication
“I was downstairs in my room, which was in the basement.”
Confirms the interviews were conducted separately, suggesting independent witness statements
Key Moments
- The central moment of Sullivan's direct testimony was her account of the hotel lobby confrontation: after she greeted O'Keefe, Karen Read snapped her head up and loudly told Sullivan to go to herself across the lobby, which Sullivan described as shocking given it was the first and only time the two had met.
- Sullivan described O'Keefe stumbling into the hotel lobby in a visibly intoxicated state that night, characterizing it as abnormal behavior for someone she knew as reliably present and engaged with her family.
- Sullivan testified that O'Keefe uncharacteristically avoided her family for the rest of the Aruba trip following the incident, behavior she described as unlike him given his role as godfather to her nephew.
- On cross-examination, Jackson elicited that Sullivan was present at neither the Waterfall Bar & Grille on January 28 nor 34 Fairview Road on January 29, making Trooper Proctor's decision to drive to Pembroke to interview her a point of focus for the defense.
- Redirect established that Proctor was accompanied by a second trooper during the February 8th visit and that Sullivan's sister was interviewed first and separately, contextualizing the visit as broader than a targeted interview of Sullivan alone.