Commonwealth v. Read — Trial Archive
Person Nicole Albert Trial 1Resident of 34 Fairview Road who testified about the gathering at her home ← All People
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Nicole Albert

Courtroom still of Nicole Albert.

Resident of 34 Fairview Road who testified about the gathering at her home

Trial 1
446 lines 4 proceedings

About

Nicole Albert lived at 34 Fairview Road with her husband, Brian Albert. She testified about a gathering there after an evening at the Waterfall and said neither John O’Keefe nor Karen Read entered the house. She described her sister Jennifer McCabe coming into her bedroom the next morning, after O’Keefe was found, and the police arriving at the home. On cross-examination, defense counsel questioned Albert about guests’ movements and why she had not named Colin Albert in earlier police interviews. She said she had not regarded Colin as part of the later group and estimated that Brian Albert and Brian Higgins were outside her sight for a couple of minutes while she cleaned. Counsel also questioned her about phone records from that morning. Albert maintained that she had not answered or spoken with McCabe by phone before McCabe came to her room, and said she had no experience interpreting the Cellebrite extraction report shown to her. She also testified that the family dog, Chloe, was rehomed after a May 2022 biting incident.

Trial Record (4)

Trial 1 First Criminal Trial Apr 29, 2024 – Jul 1, 2024 4 proceedings

Day 9

Direct Nicole Albert - Direct Examination Nicole Albert Adam Lally 3 highlights 247 lines spoken
Summary

Nicole Albert recounted the Waterfall gathering, the later gathering at 34 Fairview Road, and the next morning’s police contact; eight exterior photographs of the home were admitted.

Highlights (3)
Quote

“I had none. I don’t believe we spoke or we were introduced or anything. I don’t think we spoke at all.”

Albert testified that she had no interaction with Karen Read at the Waterfall.

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Quote

“It had no relation to it. We had already had thoughts and plans of doing it before that happened. We had reached out to a realtor at the end of ’21.”

Albert said the decision to sell the house predated January 29, 2022.

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Key Moment

Albert testified that Jennifer came into her bedroom between 6:00 and 6:30 that morning and that Officer Lank entered the house after Albert and her husband went downstairs.

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Cross Nicole Albert Cross-Examination Nicole Albert Elizabeth Little 4 highlights 180 lines spoken
Summary

Nicole Albert was questioned about the household timeline, omitted names in earlier accounts, Chloe, and disputed morning calls; a stipulated 34 Fairview graphic was admitted as Exhibit 66.

Highlights (4)
Quote

“Of course we discussed the case, just everything that was going on. We were trying to figure out what happened.”

Albert acknowledged family discussions before law-enforcement interviews.

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Quote

“She may have placed those phone calls to me, but I never answered them.”

Albert maintained her denial of answering her sister's morning calls after being shown the records page.

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Key Moment

The court allowed questioning about Chloe's prior incident with another dog; Albert described one woman being injured while breaking up the dogs and said the dog had been rehomed in Vermont.

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Redirect Nicole Albert - Redirect Examination Nicole Albert Adam Lally 2 highlights 16 lines spoken
Summary

Nicole Albert denied answering Jennifer McCabe’s calls, said she could not interpret Cellebrite call data, described rehoming Chloe, and characterized a brief gap in her observations at 34 Fairview.

Highlights (2)
Quote

“And then after that we just decided that we thought the best thing to do would be to try to rehome her because I just didn’t want something like that to happen again.”

Albert explained her stated reason for rehoming Chloe after the biting incident.

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Quote

“It wasn’t very long. A couple minutes. I wasn’t watching where everybody was and what everybody was doing.”

Albert characterized the period when Mr. Higgins and her husband were outside her sight.

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Locations Touched By This Testimony

Waterfall Bar & Grille 3 procs 34 Fairview Road 2 procs Canton Police Department 1 proc