Day 10 - May 13, 2024

ADA Lally conducts a methodical redirect examination of Brian Albert, systematically addressing points raised during Alan Jackson's cross-examination. Lally establishes that Albert was at the Hillside and Waterfall bars with his own friends and family, not specifically with O'Keefe or Read. Albert explains he visited Jen McCabe the next afternoon because she is like a sister to him and was distraught. Lally elicits testimony about the basement bulkhead — that it had different doors than shown in cross-examination exhibits, made a loud creaking noise when opened, and the interior door was kept locked. On the phone issue, Lally establishes that the upgrade occurred before any preservation notice, that cloud backups preserved calls, texts, photos, and contacts, and that a judge denied the defense's motion for the physical phone. Albert explains poor cell reception at 34 Fairview Road and suggests his phone may have been unlocked around the time of the 2:22 AM call, offering an alternative to the deliberate-call theory. The examination concludes with Albert's emphatic denial that O'Keefe entered his house that night.

Alan Jackson conducts a brief recross focused on two points. First, he establishes that Brian Albert discussed poor cell phone reception at 34 Fairview Road during trial preparation with ADA Lally, presses Albert on whether the topic came up during the lunch break, and highlights that Albert's memory of where the prep meeting occurred was conveniently refreshed between the morning cross and the afternoon redirect. Albert concedes he spoke briefly with Lally over lunch and that Lally mentioned at least one topic he planned to raise on redirect. Second, Jackson returns to the phone timeline, drawing out that while a defense motion for Albert's physical phone was denied in October 2022, Albert had already traded in the phone approximately a month earlier — the day before the preservation order was issued.

Brian Albert Jr., 25, testified about his birthday celebration at 34 Fairview Road in Canton on the evening of January 28, 2022. He described friends arriving around 7:30 PM, his cousin Colin Albert (age 17) arriving around 10:45-11 PM, and his parents returning from the Waterfall Bar & Grille with Brian Higgins and his sister Caitlin around midnight. He testified that Colin left as the parents arrived, picked up by his cousin Allie McCabe. Albert Jr. described looking out the dining room window twice and seeing an unrecognized dark SUV parked near the mailbox, which had moved toward the flagpole area by his second look. He stated no one besides the people he named entered the house, that he heard no noises from outside, observed no injuries on his father the next morning, and that neither John O'Keefe nor Karen Read ever came inside the home.

Elizabeth Little challenged Brian Albert Jr. on several fronts during cross-examination. She established that Albert Jr. was not interviewed by Massachusetts State Police until July 6, 2023 — 18 months after O'Keefe's death — and only after being called before a grand jury. The interview took place at the family's defense attorney's office. Little probed his communications with cousin Colin Albert via Snapchat, establishing a cousin group chat existed but that no messages from January 28th were preserved. She used prior grand jury testimony to highlight Albert Jr.'s uncertainty about Brian Higgins's presence and departure time, and whether his father was present when he looked out the window. The cross concluded with a pointed sequence: Albert Jr. confirmed he could see tire tracks in the snow from the window but did not see a 220-pound man lying in the front yard.

Caitlin Albert, age ~27, testifies as a prosecution witness about the evening of January 28, 2022 — her brother Brian Jr.'s birthday. She describes arriving at the Waterfall bar around 6 PM with her boyfriend Tristin Morris and her mother Nicole, later joined by her father Brian Albert and Brian Higgins (arriving from a funeral in New York), her uncle Chris Albert, and her aunt and uncle Jen and Matt McCabe. John O'Keefe and Karen Read arrived at some point; Albert had never met either of them before. The group left the Waterfall around midnight and went to 34 Fairview Road, where Brian Jr. was celebrating with friends Sarah Levinson and Julie Nagel. Albert testifies that neither O'Keefe nor Read ever entered the house, that the mood was positive throughout, and that she was the last non-resident to leave, picked up by Morris roughly an hour and 45 minutes after arriving. She did not look toward the front lawn when departing.

Alan Jackson's cross-examination of Caitlin Albert focuses on two main areas. First, he establishes that no investigator contacted Albert until August 2023 — over 18 months after the January 2022 events — and that her first testimony was at a separate proceeding in May 2023 where neither the prosecution nor defense in this case was present. Second, Jackson questions Albert about her movements inside 34 Fairview Road, establishing that after briefly greeting her cousin Colin Albert in the foyer, she moved to the kitchen/dining room area and did not monitor where Colin went, could not see the basement door from her position, and never saw Colin leave the house. The proceeding is cut short at the end of the court day and continues the following day.