Day 18 - May 28, 2024

David Yannetti conducted a focused cross-examination of ATF agent Brian Higgins regarding the disposal of his cell phone. Yannetti established that Higgins was served with a preservation order in September 2022 and that Higgins said he never received written notice lifting it. Higgins testified that he disposed of the phone after removing the SIM card and placing the items in a trash bag for disposal in a dumpster on a military base. On redirect, Higgins testified that he learned the related motion had been denied in October 2022 and that he disposed of the phone about two months later. Yannetti confronted Higgins with a prior statement suggesting he performed a factory reset, which Higgins denied making. The examination addressed text messages with Brian Albert, Kevin Albert, and Nicole Albert that were not extracted using the federal forensics kiosk and were no longer available after the phone's disposal.

ADA Adam Lally conducted redirect examination of ATF agent Brian Higgins, addressing several points raised during cross-examination. Lally established that Higgins's Jeep Wrangler had no red plastic pieces on its plow when he left Fairview Road, and that he drove the same vehicle to multiple locations that morning. On the text messages with Karen Read, Lally highlighted multi-day gaps in communication (January 20-22 and January 24-27), countering the defense's 'ghosting' narrative. Regarding the 2:22 a.m. call to Brian Albert, Higgins denied ever speaking with Albert at that time. Lally addressed the phone destruction by eliciting testimony that an investigation target had obtained Higgins's personal number through open-source internet in July 2022, creating security concerns given his undercover work, and that the phone was discarded with routine trash rather than in a targeted disposal trip. Higgins confirmed that call records were obtainable without the physical phone.

David Yannetti conducted a brief recross focusing on two points. First, he established that Higgins changed his phone number and obtained a new phone on September 29, 2022, and that he was served with the court's preservation order the next day. Higgins testified that his concern had been the phone number rather than the phone itself; on redirect, he had placed disposal of the old phone about two months after learning a motion was denied. Yannetti pressed the timeline in light of Higgins's stated security concern. Second, Yannetti asked about Higgins's claim that the Karen Read text exchanges were embarrassing and private. Higgins said he had told his supervisor about the kiss, did not specifically recall telling her about the texting, and said it was possible that he had. An attempt to ask about 'consciousness of guilt' regarding the unpreserved Albert texts was sustained on objection.

Dr. Justin Rice, a board-certified emergency medicine physician at Good Samaritan Hospital, testified about treating John O'Keefe on the morning of January 29, 2022. O'Keefe arrived at 6:47 a.m. in cardiac arrest with asystole, intubated and receiving CPR. His rectal temperature was 80.1°F, indicating severe hypothermia. Despite approximately 30 minutes of resuscitative efforts including epinephrine, warm IV fluids, and a Bair Hugger warming blanket, O'Keefe's core temperature did not significantly rise, and he was pronounced dead at 7:50 a.m. Rice documented a 7mm laceration on the right superior orbital ridge with surrounding swelling and superficial abrasions on the right forearm. Rice also testified that Karen Read was admitted to the same ER that morning on a Section 12 involuntary psychiatric hold, with blood work showing a blood alcohol level of 93 milligrams per deciliter.

Defense attorney Elizabeth Little cross-examined Dr. Justin Rice about his involvement in Karen Read's care, his present recollection of the blood draw, and his documentation of John O'Keefe's injuries. Rice said he did not recall treating Read, did not write the ER note, and did not know who collected her blood. He confirmed particular injuries and fractures were not reported, while declining to say that no other injuries or broken bones were present; he later explained that emergency resuscitation limited attention to observations not pertinent to that effort.

On redirect, ADA Lally asked Dr. Rice to explain why fractures or broken bones were not documented during O'Keefe's emergency room treatment. Rice testified that the medical team's focus was entirely on core resuscitative medicine — securing the airway, maintaining CPR, and restoring cardiac function — and that injuries not pertinent to resuscitation received less attention. Lally confirmed that no x-rays or skeletal survey were performed because the immediate priorities were O'Keefe's 80-degree body temperature, absent pulse, and cardiac arrest. Lally concluded by having Rice read his clinical impression from the chart: cardiac arrest, trauma, head trauma, and exposure to environmental cold.

ADA Adam Lally calls Dr. Gary Faller, chief pathologist and laboratory medical director at Good Samaritan Medical Center, to establish the reliability of Karen Read's hospital blood alcohol test. Faller details his credentials (Tufts-trained, board certified in anatomic and clinical pathology, CAP-accredited lab) and walks the jury through the full chain of custody for blood alcohol testing — from phlebotomist protocols to centrifugation to machine analysis. He explains that the hospital tests serum/plasma (not whole blood), which yields slightly higher readings than whole blood, and that the hospital does not convert to whole-blood equivalents used in legal settings. The blood alcohol result for Karen Read was reported as 93 milligrams per deciliter, drawn approximately 10 minutes after the order and reported about 50 minutes later.

Elizabeth Little cross-examines Dr. Gary Faller on clinical hospital blood alcohol testing and forensic testing. Faller rejects the premise that hospitals accept less accuracy or reliability than forensic laboratories. He says hospital policy identifies factors that can falsely elevate or lower serum alcohol, including lactic acid or LDH and Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, and explains that Roche machines can flag or prevent resolution of some potential interferences. When asked about trauma, muscle weakness, tissue loss, and abnormal tissue, he says he has not read studies on those propositions. Faller defends the NADH methodology, citing proficiency testing and its widespread hospital use. The examination also addresses the hospital's lack of legal-BAC calculation and the point-in-time limit of a serum result.

ADA Adam Lally conducts a brief redirect of Dr. Faller following Elizabeth Little's cross-examination, which had raised the possibility that factors other than alcohol (lactate, LDH, trauma) could elevate NADH readings. Lally asks whether any such interferences were present in Karen Read's case. Faller confirms he saw nothing indicating interference and explains that the hospital's machine automatically flags samples with high lipids, hemolysis, or high bilirubin — conditions that could compromise results. He states that in Read's case, there were no flags, meaning the reported result of 93 mg/dL was not compromised by any known interference.

Following ADA Lally's redirect, Judge Cannone offers Elizabeth Little the opportunity to recross Dr. Faller. Little asks for a moment to consider, then declines with no further questions. The proceeding concludes Faller's testimony.

Nicholas Roberts, a former Massachusetts State Police crime lab forensic scientist, explains his educational background (forensic science degree, master's in forensic toxicology from University of Glasgow) and nine years of experience in the toxicology unit. He describes performing a serum conversion on Karen Read's hospital blood alcohol results from Good Samaritan, which reported 93 milligrams per deciliter of ethanol at 9:08 a.m. Using standard conversion factors, he calculated a whole blood BAC range of 0.078 to 0.083 g percent. Roberts then performed a retrograde extrapolation using 12:45 a.m. as the last drink time, calculating that Read's BAC at that time would have been between 0.135 and 0.292 g percent. He explains the wide range results from individual variation in elimination rates and the two-hour absorption window built into the minimum calculation.

Defense attorney Elizabeth Little cross-examines toxicologist Nicholas Roberts on the limitations of his retrograde extrapolation analysis. She establishes that his calculations depend entirely on assumptions about when Karen Read had her last drink, and that if the drinking pattern differed from what was assumed, the extrapolation would be invalid. Little highlights that the underlying blood test was performed by a hospital rather than the accredited State Police crime lab, without confirmatory testing, and that the serum-to-whole-blood conversion factor varies significantly between individuals. Roberts concedes the resulting BAC range of 0.135 to 0.292 represents an approximately 120% swing, and agrees that if Read consumed alcohol after 12:45 a.m., his entire calculation would be invalid.

On redirect, ADA Lally asks about the last-drink-time input used in Roberts's retrograde extrapolation. Roberts says 12:45 a.m. was given to him, while the 9:08 a.m. blood-draw time came from a medical record. He says an additional drink would change the time frame depending on when it occurred. In response to a comparison of a 1:00 a.m. and a 5:00 a.m. last drink, he says the numbers could be very different; he separately says a 1:00 a.m. last drink would not significantly affect his calculations.

In a brief recross, defense attorney Elizabeth Little asked Nicholas Roberts whether Karen Read had provided the 12:45 a.m. time he used for his retrograde extrapolation. Roberts answered no. Little then asked whether the time came from a police report, but ended the examination without a witness response. Judge Cannone then excused Roberts.

ADA Adam Lally called Michael Trotta, superintendent of Canton Public Works since 2003, to testify about DPW snow removal operations during the January 28-29, 2022 blizzard. Trotta explained the town's plow route system (29 routes, ~35 town trucks plus ~30 private contractors), the staged deployment schedule (sanders at 11 PM, remaining workforce at 2 AM, contractors at 3 AM), and the assignment for Route 11 covering the Cedarcrest neighborhood including Fairview Road. He identified the specific trucks assigned to that route — a medium-duty 4300 International (Truck 30, driven by Brian Loughran) and a private contractor's one-ton dump — and described driver sight-line heights for each vehicle class. Exhibit 109, the plow plan for that storm, was admitted without objection.

David Yannetti questioned Michael Trotta about his February 3, 2022 phone call with Trooper Michael Proctor, establishing that the call lasted only a few minutes and that Proctor never visited the DPW in person. Trotta said Proctor did not ask him to speak with plow driver Brian Loughran, but was unsure whether Proctor had said he would speak with anyone else and could not recall with certainty whether Loughran's full name or operations manager Bill Walsh's name came up during the call. When asked about later personal follow-up, Trotta said he was not sure. Yannetti also attempted to explore whether a defense investigator named Paul Makowski had contacted Trotta shortly after, but Trotta denied any memory of that contact. The cross concluded with Trotta confirming the plow plan exhibit matched a defense copy.

ADA Lally examines Louis Jutras, Canton's IT manager of 25 years, about his role retrieving security camera footage from town properties after the January 29, 2022 incident. Jutras explains he was contacted first by Lieutenant Gallagher, then by Trooper Dunne, who initially requested footage from Pequitside Farm, whose cameras primarily covered the entrance, grounds, and surrounding property off Pleasant Street. Dunne later requested footage from cameras at Canton Town Hall and the Canton Public Library that physically faced Washington Street, for two time windows: 12–1 a.m. and 5–6 a.m. Jutras describes the camera systems as motion-activated with timestamps synced to a national time server, with approximately 30-day retention. He also testifies that DPW truck GPS systems were reported non-functional on February 1st, days after the snowstorm, noting that GPS outages occur several times a year. Two clips from the library camera are briefly shown in court.

Attorney Yannetti established that Jutras provided State Police the raw, motion-activated surveillance footage in his possession and had not watched every second of it. Jutras testified that no trooper asked him to retain a separate municipal copy beyond the local retention period. He later said that a caller he believed was Trooper Dunn requested another copy, but Jutras did not have it and could not recreate it. Jutras also testified that he did not control the footage after sharing it with State Police and lacked personal knowledge of its later handling. The prosecution declined redirect.