Opening Statement - Commonwealth

MR. LALLY: Thank you.

MR. LALLY: My best. Good morning. So as her honor was telling you, this is one of the two opportunities that I will get to address you. The purpose of which right now, essentially, what I'm going to attempt to do — and I know you heard over the course of the impanelment process a number of different witnesses that were listed out as potential witnesses in this case — so what my intent here is to provide as much of a road map as I can through those waters and help you to navigate sort of who these people are and what relation they have to this case. Let me start with John O'Keefe. John O'Keefe grew up in Braintree. He was 46 years old when he passed. He was the son of John O'Keefe Jr. and Margaret, or Peggy. He was a brother to Paul O'Keefe and to his sister Kristen Furbush.

MR. LALLY: Kristen was married, so John's brother-in-law was a man named Steven Furbush, and they had two children who were very young in 2018. Now in 2018, Kristen unfortunately, tragically, passed away, succumbing to cancer, in November of 2018. Within months of that, Mr. O'Keefe's brother-in-law and Kristen's husband, Steven, passed away as well. Now initially, when John O'Keefe's sister passed away, sort of the initial plan for that situation was that John O'Keefe was going to move in with Steven Furbush and the kids and assist as far as raising them.

MR. LALLY: And then when Steven passed away a few months after his wife, before those plans could be finalized, John O'Keefe then moved in with his niece and nephew and assumed the parental role and assumed legal guardianship with respect to both of those children. Now he was assisted in this by a great number of people within the town of Canton where the Furbushes lived and where John moved into the home with the two children. There were other parents within the neighborhood, other parents within the children's age group. You'll hear from a number of them over the course of this trial, but they include Mrs. Kerry Roberts and Mrs. Jennifer McCabe. They helped Mr. O'Keefe out during those initial stages and during the time that he assumed this role. He also brought help from his work.

MR. LALLY: John O'Keefe was a proud member of the Boston Police Department, had been for many years. He had been a patrolman prior to moving in with the children and assuming this role. Boston Police Department helped him greatly, as far as assigning him to more of a desk role, working in the sex offender unit, with more regular hours to sort of acclimate himself to this new life and this new role with these children. Initially John O'Keefe lived in the house with the kids, however in 2018 they moved into a new home, sort of a new home that they could call their own. That home is located also within the town of Canton, sort of on the Stoughton side of Canton, at One Meadow. John O'Keefe raised these children, assuming guardianship for them for about eight years.

MR. LALLY: His niece was the elder of the two, was about 14 at the time that John O'Keefe died, and his nephew was about 11 years old at the time that John O'Keefe died. January 28th, 2022 was a relatively typical day. It was a Friday going into a Saturday of January 29th. Sort of typical in the sense of most suburban parents — there were a lot of activities, weekend sports, practices, games, things of that nature — that the Furbush family had to look forward to. One little difference when it came to that particular day of January 28th and the 29th is the weather. So there had been predicted, and there was going to be, a significant snowstorm — essentially a blizzard — coming in overnight that Friday into Saturday, lasting through most of the day on Saturday the 29th.

MR. LALLY: And as a result of that most of those sort of typical weekend routine activities that would keep most people, including those within the town of Canton, busy had been cancelled ahead of time. Everybody knew what was coming, everybody knew essentially you weren't going to leave your house all that much the following day. Now also on January 28th, Mr. O'Keefe had received some news in respect to his niece. His niece and her best friend were in eighth grade at the time, going into high school in the fall of 2022. They both applied to a private school called [unintelligible], and they both found out on the 28th that they had been accepted.

MR. LALLY: So the friend, as well as her father, a gentleman by the name of Michael Camerano — who, both he and his wife Katie Camerano, were friendly with John O'Keefe — they had children around the same ages as both John's niece and his nephew. And they had come over to their house on Meadow [unintelligible] that evening to celebrate the girls getting into this school. The nephew of John, the 11-year-old, was sleeping over at a friend's house that night. He left the house sometime around 7:00 p.m. or so, got picked up and went to sleep over at his friend's house. John O'Keefe and Michael Camerano then decided to travel out to a local establishment on Washington Street called C.F. McCarthy's bar and restaurant.

MR. LALLY: You're going to hear testimony, and you're going to see surveillance video, and you're going to see receipts and all kinds of things from a variety of different establishments, all sort of located within Canton Center along that strip on Washington. Now — Mr. O'Keefe and Mr. Camerano leave the girls at home, they then go to C.F. McCarthy's, arriving there sometime between 7:30 and 8:00 p.m. They eventually called another friend of theirs, Mr. Curt Roberts, to come out to the bar and join them as well. And there's some other people that are located within the bar, including a Mr. James [unintelligible], who we'll hear from, who was present at the bar that night as well. Eventually the defendant Karen Read joins them at this establishment, C.F. McCarthy's, sometime just before 9 p.m.

MR. LALLY: Now John O'Keefe and Karen Read had met sometime in 2004. They had dated briefly during that time and reconnected sometime around March of 2020, around the time of the COVID-19 sort of pandemic shutdown. They had started dating around that time period, or reconnected during that time period. And the defendant had stayed at the house in Canton several nights a week, she had helped out with the children in the month or so leading up to Mr. O'Keefe's death. The relationship had soured. You will see text messages between Mr. O'Keefe and Miss Read to that effect. You will hear testimony from the children, from John's niece and nephew, in regard to things they observed within that relationship.

MR. LALLY: And you'll hear testimony from some other individuals as far as their observations or things that they heard. Turning to January 29th, 2022, just after 6:00 a.m., Canton Police Department receives a 911 call from a woman reporting a male party, subsequently identified as John O'Keefe, found in the snow outside of a residence at 34 Fairview Road. At the time, as I mentioned, the blizzard that had been predicted was occurring — heavy snow, temperatures in the teens, wind. Officer Steven Saraf and Officer Mullaney of the Canton police were dispatched along with Canton fire and EMS. And you'll hear from them in regard to their response and what they observed.

MR. LALLY: One in particular — with Officer Saraf — we will have as an exhibit, we anticipate, a cruiser camera video from his cruiser detailing or memorializing sort of his response in the darkness in the blizzard-type conditions, as he's driving from the Canton police station, where he was when he received the call, to 34 Fairview Road. When they arrive there they observe three individuals — three females — sort of off to the left side of the property. And when I say the left side of the property, I mean if you're standing out on the street facing 34 Fairview Road — off to the left side of the property there's a flagpole, there's a fire hydrant, there's some bushes. That is where [unintelligible].

MR. LALLY: The right side of the property is sort of the driveway and the mailbox, other things that you'll become familiar with through photographic evidence and other means through the course of this trial. The three females that the officers observed there were then identified as the defendant Karen Read, Mrs. Jennifer McCabe — who had received a phone call earlier in the morning from the defendant — as well as Mrs. Kerry Roberts, who had also received a phone call early that morning from the defendant. The several firefighters from the Canton Fire Department you'll hear from in regard to their observations of injuries, abrasions and lacerations to the right arm of Mr. O'Keefe.

MR. LALLY: Their testimony in regard to swelling of his eyes and other injuries that they observed, redness from the cold — he had been lying out in it for some time. You'll hear testimony from these firefighters: Timothy Nuttall, Anthony Flematti, Matthew Kelly, Frank Walsh, Katie McLaughlin, and Greg Woodbury. At least from three of those firefighters, you — their testimony anticipates detailing statements that the defendant made when they had asked about the origination of some of those injuries. The defendant stated repeatedly, "I hit him, I hit him, I hit him." Mr. O'Keefe is then taken from the front lawn onto what they call a scoop stretcher. As he's doing that, I anticipate you'll hear Miss Roberts' testimony that, despite the approximately six inches of snow that was on top of Mr.

MR. LALLY: O'Keefe's body and the snow throughout the roadway, front yard, everywhere around where he was, there was grass underneath Mr. O'Keefe where his cell phone was located underneath his body as he lay on that. He's then transported by firefighters Kelly, Flematti, and Nuttall, as well as the ambulance being driven by firefighter Moffin, to the Good Samaritan Medical Center. Once there, there are some observations and you'll hear testimony from Dr. Justin Rice from that facility as far as observations consistent with what I anticipate you'll hear from those firefighters. But then there is a certain warming procedure that they go through trying to bring his body temperature up, because when Mr.

MR. LALLY: O'Keefe arrives at the Good Samaritan Medical Center his body temperature is [unintelligible], and after those resuscitative efforts prove unsuccessful, Mr. O'Keefe is eventually pronounced by Dr. Rice at approximately 7:50. Shortly after that, the defendant is then being driven away from the scene by Miss Roberts, who is now going to go pick up Mr. and Mrs. O'Keefe — John's parents — in Braintree and bring them to Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton. The defendant makes some statements of self-harm, and as a result of that she's then transported to the Good Samaritan Medical Center as well by two firefighters named Daniel Whitley and Jason Becker.

MR. LALLY: And amongst the statements that they gain from the defendant as they're having a conversation with her in regard to that, in regard to [unintelligible], she indicates that the last — that she saw Mr. O'Keefe, they had gotten into an argument before he had gotten out of the car in front of Fairview. Now you'll also hear testimony from some of the other first responding officers from the Canton Police Department, including Lieutenant Paul Gallagher, Sergeant Sean Goode, and Sergeant Michael Lank, in regard to their initial response, their observations, people that they spoke to, where they went, and their ability to recover — within these blizzard conditions that are still ongoing — certain pieces of evidence that they located in and around the area where Mr. O'Keefe's body was found.

MR. LALLY: You'll also hear from Lt. Charles Rae of the Canton Police Department, who was — at this point in time the Canton police were unaware that the nephew was at a sleepover. They weren't aware that Mr. Camerano had come over to the residence on [unintelligible] and picked up the niece, bringing her back to his house, as she was left unattended when the defendant left to go looking for Mr. O'Keefe. Unaware of that, they go do a well-being check at approximately 8:22 in the morning, and they also have cruiser camera video attached to their cruiser.

MR. LALLY: You'll see that video, and when they pull into the driveway — that's approximately 8:22 in the morning — they pull in directly behind where eventually you'll hear Miss McCabe left the defendant's vehicle after driving it from [unintelligible] and searching for Mr. O'Keefe. And you'll have that footage, and you'll be able to see the back of the defendant's vehicle, specifically the right rear taillight of that. Now you'll also hear testimony, as I mentioned, from the Cameranos, from Mr. Roberts — also they were all present with the defendant and Mr. O'Keefe at C.F. McCarthy's. You'll hear testimony from a number of other individuals who were at the Waterfall. The Waterfall is a bar located across the street essentially from C.F. McCarthy's on Washington Street in Canton center.

MR. LALLY: And that is where Mr. O'Keefe and the defendant went after leaving C.F. McCarthy's at approximately 11:00 p.m. or so. Now from that establishment you'll hear from Rebecca Trayers, who was working as a bartender at the Waterfall that evening. You'll hear from a couple named Nicholas and Karina Kolokithas, who were friends of friends who had known Mr. O'Keefe through having a daughter around the same age as Mr. and Mrs. Kus — some conversation with the defendant that evening as well as herself and Mrs. McCabe at the Waterfall. She left around the same time as they did, she parked on Washington Street around the same area as Mr. O'Keefe and Miss Read did, specifically in Miss Read's car. And she observed Mr.

MR. LALLY: O'Keefe and the defendant walking toward the defendant's vehicle, and specifically the defendant walking toward the driver's side. Now you'll hear testimony from a Christopher and Julie Albert, who were people who were at one point neighbors of Mr. O'Keefe — they knew him well from being neighbors of him. Christopher Albert owns a pizza shop also located within that Canton center area. Mr. O'Keefe earlier in the day of the 28th had been into that pizza shop along with his nephew to get his nephew pizza. Christopher Albert and Mr. O'Keefe had some conversation regarding what they were doing that night, and it's Christopher Albert who actually texts Mr. O'Keefe and indicates that they're over at the Waterfall and that he should come over, shortly before Mr.

MR. LALLY: O'Keefe and the defendant make their way from C.F. McCarthy's. Now Christopher Albert left directly from the Waterfall and went home — it was sort of walking distance — from his wife Julie Albert, who had left earlier in the evening. There was a band playing at the Waterfall that night. Julie Albert started to get a migraine and she left before most of the group. Included within that group, and sort of how they came to the Waterfall, the Albert family in particular — Julie Albert went there along with her sister-in-law Nicole Albert, as well as her niece Caitlin Albert, her niece's boyfriend, and Mr. Tristin Morris, and they had had dinner at the Waterfall earlier that evening. Now Nicole Albert lives at 34 Fairview Road. She has a husband named Brian Albert, who's also a Boston cop.

MR. LALLY: Brian Albert had gone with a friend of his who's also in law enforcement — a man named Brian Higgins — and they had gone separately but came home together from a funeral for a fallen police officer in New York City, came home early to sort of beat the weather, and eventually they meet up with Brian Albert's family at the Waterfall. Now Tristin Morris, who was Caitlin Albert's boyfriend, had left the Waterfall at some point in the evening. He then returns later to the residence on Fairview Road and picks up Caitlin Albert, brings her home. All of this is in relation to Brian Albert and Nicole Albert's son Brian Albert Jr., whose birthday was coming up the following day, the day of the snowstorm on the 29th.

MR. LALLY: So he had been back at the house at 34 Fairview while his family was out at the Waterfall. He had a number of friends that had come over that evening to celebrate his birthday. Now among those friends were two individuals named Sarah Levinson and Julie Nagel, and they were at the residence at 34 Fairview for a good portion. Now those individuals from the Waterfall that leave and then come to 34 Fairview — they do so sometime shortly after midnight. Shortly after midnight is when it starts to snow. Flurries are starting to come down, snow is starting to stick to some degree to the road, to the front lawn, grassy areas around the town.

MR. LALLY: Now from that group, the group that goes back is obviously Brian Albert and Nicole Albert, as they live there, Caitlin Albert because it's her parents and her boyfriend picking her up, as well as Jennifer McCabe, who was Nicole Albert's sister, and her husband Matthew. They go back to that, and there's an open invitation to essentially anybody that's there. John O'Keefe takes them up on that. There are certain text messages and phone conversations between John O'Keefe and Jennifer McCabe as to where this house is located, as he's never been there before, and then he and the defendant arrive in the defendant's vehicle to 34 Fairview. And once there, there are several witnesses from within the home that observe the vehicle parked.

MR. LALLY: So I mentioned earlier there were two females that were with Brian Albert Jr. at the house, one of them being Julie Nagel. At some point she calls her brother Ryan Nagel for a ride home. He then gets a ride from his friends Ricky D'Antuono, as well as Ryan Nagel's girlfriend Heather Maxon, who was riding in the back of Mr. D'Antuono's pickup truck. I say that because they arrive at Fairview Road around the same time as the defendant is coming in from one direction, the pickup truck that the Nagel brother is coming in from another direction. The pickup truck that the Nagel brother is riding in flashes its lights, signaling the defendant to go. She goes first, they follow in behind, and lo and behold they end up at the same house.

MR. LALLY: They park the pickup truck somewhere in that right side of the property, facing it from the street, in the area of the driveway. And the defendant in her black Lexus SUV parks a little bit further up. Different people from within the pickup and different people from within the house observe that Lexus SUV in one location, pull up a little bit further, and then pull up a little bit further, till it's in the area of that fire hydrant, of that flag pole, where Mr. O'Keefe is located the following morning. Now from their position, I anticipate the testimony that you're going to hear is that Heather Maxon from that pickup truck observes a male passenger and a female operator when the pickup truck operator flashes those lights, as the vehicles are facing each other before they pull out.

MR. LALLY: What you'll hear also — I anticipate from all three of those individuals in the pickup, and Julie comes out to the pickup to talk to the brother — is that no one ever exits that vehicle. There are no footprints around that vehicle, there's no damage that they observed to that vehicle at that time. Again, it's just started to snow, things aren't sticking really too much at this [unintelligible]. Nagel has a conversation with the brother, decides she's going to stay at the house longer, so she arranges for a ride home, and the pickup truck leaves. As they pass by, they observe a female operator — matching, I submit — is the description of the defendant. From all of those people within that house that evening, none of them at any point in time observe John O'Keefe come into the house.

MR. LALLY: They see the vehicle out front, they see the vehicle pull away, and they just assume that they left and that no one was coming. We'll hear testimony from other individuals who are at the house that night, including Colin Albert, who was Julie and Christopher Albert's son. He's also the cousin of Brian Albert Jr., who was having people over for his birthday. He's leaving the house around the time that the initial people coming back from the Waterfall — which includes the homeowners and Mr. Higgins — are sort of coming into the house at that point. Colin Albert is leaving.

MR. LALLY: He's getting picked up by a young lady named Allison McCabe, who was Jennifer and Matthew McCabe's daughter, who's also friends with Colin Albert and also cousins of Brian Albert Jr., who's within the home celebrating his birthday. As I mentioned, you'll hear testimony from Matthew McCabe and from Jennifer M. in regard to their observations that particular evening — both at the Waterfall as well as at the residence on Fairview Road. And then you'll hear testimony in regards to a phone call — a phone call that Jennifer McCabe receives from John O'Keefe's niece at approximately 4:53 in the morning. She answers that phone call, speaks to the niece briefly, and the niece hands the phone over to the defendant.

MR. LALLY: Now you'll hear testimony from the niece as well that about 4:30 in the morning or so, the defendant came into her room in a frantic state, saying that Mr. O'Keefe had not come home the night before. So initially when the defendant is talking to Miss McCabe, she indicates to Miss McCabe that the last time she saw him was at the Waterfall. Eventually, as Miss McCabe was waking up, she reminds the defendant that she not only saw them leave the Waterfall around the same time as herself, but also saw the vehicle — the defendant's vehicle — outside of the home on Fairview Road.

MR. LALLY: Eventually, the defendant — while driving around, this will come in as far as other testimony and related testimony as it develops — she's driving around that morning, she's calling a number of different people, friends of Mr. O'Keefe. She's calling Mr. O'Keefe himself. She also calls Miss Roberts. Kerry Roberts receives a call about 5:00 a.m. from the defendant, indicating that Mr. O'Keefe did not come home, indicating that he got hit by a plow or that he must be dead. Miss Roberts then gets ready, Miss McCabe is getting ready, as we're all sort of planning to go out and look for Mr. O'Keefe, to see if they can locate him. They call numerous times.

MR. LALLY: You see that within the text messages and the phone extractions from a variety of people's different phones throughout the course of this trial as well. So eventually the defendant comes to Miss McCabe's home, indicates — at some point prior to that — that she has [unintelligible]. Miss McCabe then gets in the driver's seat due to the defendant's frantic state. Miss Roberts is there as well. Miss Roberts follows Miss McCabe driving the defendant's vehicle back to Mr. O'Keefe's residence on Meadow Street. She checks on the niece. The defendant then shows both Miss Roberts and Miss McCabe the damage to her right rear tail light, which is essentially missing a number of different pieces from that right rear tail light. They then proceed off to drive and see if they can locate Mr.

MR. LALLY: O'Keefe. The defendant is insistent that they go to that residence on Fairview Road. Again, they're driving down there in the dark, in the snow, in the wind, in the blizzard. As they approach towards that residence, they are seated within the vehicle — and this is Miss Roberts's vehicle. She's driving. Miss McCabe is in the front passenger seat and the defendant is in the rear passenger seat. The defendant is the only one who sees Mr. O'Keefe, yells and screams at Miss Roberts to stop. Kerry Roberts and Miss McCabe, I anticipate, will testify that they did not see Mr. O'Keefe — not only as they were driving past him, but even after they got out of the vehicle — until the defendant gets out of the back seat and makes a beeline essentially right over to where Mr. O'Keefe's body is found.

MR. LALLY: Miss McCabe dials 911, and shortly after that is when the officers and firefighters arrive. Now, while they're waiting there, at approximately 6:23, 6:24 a.m., during conversation with the defendant, the defendant asks Miss McCabe to look up on her phone how long someone has to be out in the cold to die from hypothermia, or something to that effect. And you'll hear some dispute as to when that search was made. And you'll hear testimony from three different forensic extraction experts — [unintelligible], Jessica Hyde, and Ian Whiffin — who you'll hear a lot about. These things called extraction reports from cell phones, and the extraction reports are done with a program called Cellebrite. Mr. Whiffin is someone who writes that software for Cellebrite.

MR. LALLY: I anticipate you'll hear from each of their testimonies that that Google search that was done on Miss McCabe's phone was done at the same time frame that she indicates the defendant requested her to do it, and that at 6:23 and 6:24 a.m.. We'll hear testimony from Miss Roberts, Miss McCabe, the firefighters, and the responding Canton police officers about a repeated phraseology that the defendant stated while there, asking again and again in regards to Mr. O'Keefe — [unintelligible]. You will also hear testimony, as I indicated, about her course of treatment that she received at Good Samaritan Medical Center, and that would involve testimony of Miss Daisy Orth, Miss Kathleen Wilford, and Dr. Gary Faller.

MR. LALLY: Hear testimony from a number of different analysts from the State Police crime lab and from some other laboratories as well. Included within that will be Mr. Nicholas Roberts, and Maureen Hartnett, Mr. Andre Porto, Ashley Vallier, and Miss Christina Hanley — those being from the state. You will hear testimony in regard to an incident which occurred earlier, in January, right around New Year's. Mr. O'Keefe, the defendant, and the children had been invited with a much larger group — approximately 70 people or so — to spend New Year's in Aruba. This is a trip that was organized by a friend of Mr. O'Keefe's named Laura Sullivan. Hear testimony from her as well as from her sister, Miss Marietta, as well as you'll hear testimony from two children in relation to this.

MR. LALLY: And essentially, day two or so of this trip, Marietta Sullivan, the sister of Laura, is walking through the lobby and she runs into Mr. O'Keefe. This is someone she refers to as Godfather, because John O'Keefe is also the Godfather of Laura Sullivan's son. Runs into him in the lobby, gives him a hug, and sort of pointing him in the direction of where she believes he's going — his room. The defendant is in the area. The defendant starts yelling and screaming and swearing, and O'Keefe responds in kind. Essentially, for the most part, the Sullivan sisters see very little of Mr. O'Keefe through the remainder of their trip to Aruba.

MR. LALLY: And we also hear testimony from the children that shortly after this, or immediately after this, there is an approximately 20-minute screaming match going on between Mr. O'Keefe and the defendant within their hotel room in front of the children. Now you'll also hear testimony — from another individual's phone — in regard to that Aruba incident, in regard to text messages of an amorous nature that she had with Mr. Brian Higgins, who was at the Waterfall and also at the residence at 34 Fairview, because he was friends with the homeowner, Brian Albert, but he was also friends with Mr. O'Keefe and had also met the defendant. And throughout the course of those amorous text messages, there are references that the defendant makes to that incident in Aruba, as she purports it to be — Mr.

MR. LALLY: O'Keefe [unintelligible]. She insists that he was making out with Marietta Sullivan in that lobby, as opposed to her giving him a hug, and makes repeated reference to that within the content of those text messages as well. Now you'll hear testimony from a number of different other individuals: Mr. Michael Trotta, who has a supervisor role — Canton Department of Public Works. We'll hear from Mr. Louis Jutras, who has a supervisor role with regard to IT, in regard to certain video that was recovered from the town of Canton as well as from a Temple located along the route that the defendant traveled — both away from Fairview that evening as well as to Fairview from the Waterfall, away from Fairview to Mr. O'Keefe's residence on Meadow Street, and then later in the morning. At 5:00 a.m.

MR. LALLY: — because if you recall, Miss McCabe, I anticipate, will testify that she receives the call from the defendant about 4:53 in the morning — the defendant then drives around Canton for some appreciable half hour or so period of time prior to even getting to Miss McCabe's. And what I submit the evidence — or what I anticipate the evidence — will show, based on sort of the tracking of her phone records, testimony you'll hear from troopers of the State Police, from these [unintelligible] records and [unintelligible] accounts — that's the defendant — while she's using her phone, she is driving in the direction of Fairview Road prior to going to Mrs. McCabe's house, where she meets Mrs. McCabe and Mrs. Roberts.

MR. LALLY: Now again, you'll hear testimony from a number of different Troopers who were involved in the investigation with regard to this case. You'll hear from Trooper Michael Proctor and Sergeant Bukhenik of the State Police. You'll hear from Lieutenant Brian Tully. You'll hear some testimony from

MR. LALLY: — he's in a specialized unit within the State Police called CARS for short, but essentially Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section within the Massachusetts State Police — his examination of the vehicle, his examination of the scene, his examination of specifically some Toyota telematics, because the Lexus IS is essentially owned by Toyota, or vice versa, so there is some data that he's able to recover from that and track the vehicle based on its known locations and travel cycles.

MR. LALLY: He essentially anticipates that around 12:45 in the morning, when the vehicle was in front of the residence on Fairview, that for some perceptible period of time that vehicle travels over 60 feet in reverse at over 20 — approximately 24.2 miles per hour. Now you'll hear testimony, as I said, from a number of different Troopers, as well as from a number of different analysts from different labs. Included within that is Miss Maureen Hartnett, who collected items from the vehicle — the defendant's vehicle — including the tail light housing from that vehicle, pieces of the tail light that were discovered in the front grass and Front Street area. There is a specialized team called the C team. You'll hear from Lieutenant Kevin O'Hara, who has a supervisory role in relation to that.

MR. LALLY: And then later on that day of the incident, he, along with Lieutenant Tully and a number of different members from his search team, were searching for evidence within the mounds of snow in front of that house. The search is still ongoing at this point through sort of the afternoon hours. Among the items that they locate is a sneaker. When Mr. O'Keefe is transported to the hospital, he's found to have only one sneaker on his feet. They find the other sneaker in the snow. They find various pieces of tail light. And as is wont to do, over the course of the following days, the temperatures rise, there's a rainstorm that comes in, and the snow melts over those successive days.

MR. LALLY: There are additional pieces of tail lights that are eventually discovered in that area of the front wall in the street. Now from these different pieces, Hartnett also locates a cocktail glass that's located on the bumper, or the rear area, of that scene, and she locates a human hair on the back of that defendant's vehicle as well. Now the cocktail glass on the bumper — you'll also see surveillance video from the Waterfall, and Mr.

MR. LALLY: O'Keefe is observed on that surveillance video essentially walking out of the Waterfall with a cocktail glass in his right hand — same right hand that has minor injuries to it, and the same right hand that's attached to his right arm that has the abrasions and lacerations that are observed by the paramedics, that are observed by the doctors at Good Samaritan, and are observed by the medical examiner as well. You'll hear testimony from another analyst, Christina Hanley, about the forensic consistency between a drinking glass that was in the defendant's bumper and the drinking glass pieces that were found on scene at 34 Fairview. You'll hear her testimony in regard to pieces of red and clear plastic that were microscopic in size that were found within Mr.

MR. LALLY: O'Keefe's clothing, consistent — in her opinion, I anticipate she should testify — with the same pieces of plastic contained within the defendant's tail light. You'll hear from Ashley Vallier, who works for the lab as well, and how she fit the various pieces of broken tail light from the scene together and over that tail light housing, finding them to be consistent with each other as well. You'll hear testimony from Andre Porto, who is essentially a DNA analyst, for the swabs and samples — DNA samples that were taken from the tail light, from the clothes of Mr. O'Keefe, and the broken drinking glass — that were consistent with Mr. O'Keefe. Those items were also sent — the tail light DNA was also sent — to an independent lab, Bode Technologies, located in Lorton, Virginia.

MR. LALLY: You'll hear from an analyst there, Mr. Nicholas Bradford, indicating that the DNA on the defendant's tail light — his opinion — is consistent with that of Mr. O'Keefe and inconsistent with Trooper Proctor and Sergeant Bukhenik, who are the two primary investigators when he came to this case. You'll also hear from Miss Tess Chart from Bode Laboratories in regard to some mitochondrial DNA that she examined in regard to that hair that Miss Hartnett had found on the bumper of the car, and her opinion that it was consistent with that of Mr. O'Keefe as well. Lastly, you'll also hear from Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello and Dr. Renee Stonebridge of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in regard to their various examinations. Dr.

MR. LALLY: Stonebridge is a neuropathologist — she essentially examines brain specimens. Dr. Scordi-Bello is a forensic pathologist who does the sort of autopsy and medical examination of Mr. O'Keefe's body. You'll hear about the variety of injuries that she observed over Mr. O'Keefe's body. In particular, you'll hear testimony in regard to a laceration to the right back of his head, testimony in regard to an initial skull fracture that occurs to the back of his head, and then a radiating skull fracture that goes throughout his skull. This then leads to subdural hemorrhage — or essentially bleeding on the brain — and swelling of the brain, which then causes a condition called ecchymosis, which then leads to the swelling of both of Mr. O'Keefe's eyes, and is observed by the initial responders.

MR. LALLY: You will hear various testimony about issues in regard to petechiae, how that's indicative of hypothermia. Now again, as I said, this is the first of two times that I have an opportunity to address you directly, and I thank you very much for your attention today. And I thank you in anticipation of your close attention as we go through all of the witnesses and all the evidence. That second time that I do get to address you, what I'll be asking you to do — based on the evidence and, again, as the Court has instructed you, you are the sole arbiters of the facts of this case — you are the ones who find what the facts are. And I iterate that fact, and what the evidence demonstrates.

MR. LALLY: What I submit to you at that time — that second time — is that the only true and just verdict based on that is that the defendant Karen Read is guilty of murder in the second degree — striking the victim with her car, knocking him back onto the ground, striking his head on the ground, causing the bleeding in his brain and swelling — and then leaving him there for several hours in subfreezing temperatures, the temperatures in the teens, wind swirling around, snow piling up on his body, until she comes with Mrs. McCabe and Mrs. Roberts just after 6:00 a.m. — and that she is also guilty of vehicular manslaughter, operating under the influence of liquor. And that she is also guilty of leaving the scene of the accident. Thank you very much.