Commonwealth v. Read — Trial ArchiveLouis Jutras - Direct/Cross
195 linesJUDGE CANNONE: Yes. All right, Mr. Trotta, you are all — — set, sir. Thank you very much.
JUDGE CANNONE: All right. You have another witness here, Mr. Lally?
MR. LALLY: Yes.
JUDGE CANNONE: Okay. Your next witness, please.
MR. LALLY: The Commonwealth calls Mr. Louis Jutras to the stand.
COURT CLERK: Do you swear to tell the court and jury in the case now hearing the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
MR. JUTRAS: I do. Thank you.
COURT CLERK: Take the stand.
JUDGE CANNONE: All right, Mr. Lally.
MR. LALLY: Thank you. Good afternoon, sir.
MR. JUTRAS: Good afternoon.
MR. LALLY: Could you, uh, please state your name and spell your last name for the jury?
MR. JUTRAS: Louis Jutras. J-U-T-R-A-S.
MR. LALLY: And, uh, where do you live, sir?
MR. JUTRAS: Stoughton, Massachusetts.
MR. LALLY: And how long have you lived in Stoughton?
MR. JUTRAS: Uh, about 23 years.
MR. LALLY: And what is it that you do for work, sir?
MR. JUTRAS: I work for the town of Canton. I'm the manager of the information systems division of the finance department.
MR. LALLY: And how long have you been in — sorry, was the last part of the finance department?
MR. JUTRAS: Thank you.
MR. LALLY: And, sir, how long have you held that position?
MR. JUTRAS: Uh, almost 25 years now.
MR. LALLY: Um, if you could explain to the jury just as far as your job is concerned, um, what does that relate to, or what is it that you do as a director of — services?
MR. JUTRAS: Sure. So my responsibilities are for the municipal departments and all the technology associated with that.
MR. LALLY: And does that include everything sort of from cell phones to GPS in town vehicles to, uh, security systems, things of that nature?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes.
MR. LALLY: Now, with reference to, um, your department — how many people work in your department?
MR. JUTRAS: Uh, there is three of us in total, myself and two others.
MR. LALLY: Do you essentially supervise the other two — — people as well?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes.
MR. LALLY: Now, at some point — if I could turn your attention to around the time of January 29th, 2022 — some point after that, um, did someone from law enforcement or from a police department reach out to you in regard to, um, security cameras or camera systems within the town of Canton?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes. I received a notification, uh, from Lieutenant Gallagher, uh, that there was a motor vehicle incident in town that the state police would be looking for some video footage.
MR. LALLY: And so you received an initial notification from Lieutenant Gallagher telling you that the state police would be reaching out looking for video — — correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Correct.
MR. LALLY: And at some point shortly after that, did you receive any sort of — did anybody from the state police reach you?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes, yes. Trooper Dunne reached out. Um, we had a phone conversation, we had an email correspondence relative to dates and times, uh, we had pulled some footage from one site in Hyde Farm that was put together, and then after that, uh, there was a request for anything facing Washington Street, um, either from town hall or from the library.
MR. LALLY: And so, as far as what was relayed to you by Trooper Dunne, um, what was sort of the description, or what was it that you — were they asking just specifically time frames, or did you get — — any other information as far as what you were looking for?
MR. JUTRAS: Uh, from what I recall on it, there were two different time frames: between 12 and 1, and then between 5 — five and six. Uh, that was in our discussion correspondence relative to town hall.
MR. LALLY: And just to be clear, that's from 12:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. and then 5:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m., correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Correct.
MR. LALLY: Now, as far as Hyde Farm — describe to the jury sort of what kind of location that is, or what kind of town property it is, and where it is in relation to the town.
MR. JUTRAS: Yes. So the physical area is, um, off of Pleasant Street, which intersects with Washington Street closest to — Street and the — — police department. Um, that's a large area, big white house, and we have cameras that, you know, face the entrance, the street, and the surrounding building.
MR. LALLY: As far as the coverage from those cameras — have you had occasion on this occasion, or prior occasions, subsequent occasions, to look at sort of the view that the camera gets, — side?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes. Yeah, we have a straight shot down from the building down the entrance driveway right to the street. Um, the other cameras that are around there — there's a couple of doorbell-type cameras that physically focus on specific sections, and then other ones cover the general grounds around the building in the backside. All —
JUDGE CANNONE: All right, so can I interrupt for a minute? Sir, could you please spell the name of the farm?
MR. JUTRAS: Yep. P-E-Q-U-I-T-S-I-D-E.
JUDGE CANNONE: Thank you.
MR. LALLY: Sir — Mr. Jutras, is it fair to say that the Pequitside Farm cameras cover more of the property and less of the street out in front? Is that correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes.
MR. LALLY: Now, as far as that — that was the initial request, was in regard to Pequitside, is that correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Correct.
MR. LALLY: And so the subsequent request — what was that?
MR. JUTRAS: That was for anything at town hall or library that physically faced Washington Street.
MR. LALLY: And so the town hall and the library — sort of where are they situated in relation to each other and in relation to Washington?
MR. JUTRAS: Yep, so they physically... ...abut on either side of Washington Street right at the intersection of Sherman. They are diagonal to each other.
MR. LALLY: Now, as far as the recording devices or the cameras on town buildings within the town of Canton — are those uniform, or does it vary from location to location, or vary within the location?
MR. JUTRAS: The physical model of the recorder, as far as the manufacturer, that is the same that we have across 15 different sites. The types of cameras do change — indoor, interior, exterior, doorbell, things like that — but all the actual recording units are of the same manufacturer, just different sizes and models.
MR. LALLY: And as far as... ...the town hall and the public library cameras — as far as the exterior cameras at least — they face in that area of Washington Street and actually capture portions of Washington Street?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes. Yep.
MR. LALLY: Now, as far as the cameras are concerned, particularly the exterior cameras that we're talking about as far as the library and the town hall — how are they set up to record? Is it one continuous recording or motion activated?
MR. JUTRAS: The cameras — based on size and so on — they are all set up for motion in pretty much all of our locations.
MR. LALLY: And as far as your review of those cameras, is there any sort of... ...indication on the footage as far as date and time stamp or anything like that?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes, we usually have it in one of the corners or someplace along — when we have the video saved off and exported.
MR. LALLY: And when you were able to pull the video that the troopers were requesting, the date and time stamp of those videos — was that accurate as to what the date and time stamp actually was at the time that it was recording?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes, I would believe so.
MR. LALLY: And sort of those date and time stamps — where do they come from?
MR. JUTRAS: The system is linked to a time server which is remote and is used from the national standards.
MR. LALLY: Now, as far as the video is... ...concerned — from those — they're motion activated, but how far back do they go? As far as how many days pass before — does it get sort of overwritten at some point?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes. Depending on the site, most of them — because of the motion activation, because of various request types and so on, and the number of cameras — we usually try to get about 30 days. There are some that'll go longer because the site is or isn't used as much, and then there are others where — specifically with the library — they only requested to have a maximum of 30 days on that device.
MR. LALLY: And so when you received this... ...request from the troopers, that was well within 30 days, is that correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes. Yeah, because we're talking February 7th for the last request.
MR. LALLY: Now, as far as the video that you exported — well, let me ask you this: as far as when you were asked to retrieve that video, can you explain, sort of mechanically, the process? How you got that video and how you delivered that to the MSP?
MR. JUTRAS: Yeah, so specifically for the town hall and the library — that again, time frame provided, using the manufacturer's software product, doing the search, picking the cameras that are facing the Washington Street side, and then having the time frame and exporting that out. That... ...becomes, depending on the size of it, either a full executable that can just be opened and viewed, or a combination of files that has a player with it. And then, based on the fact that we had already put videos together and that that material was picked up, I had sent a file share link for that information.
MR. LALLY: You had sent that file share link to Trooper Dunne, is that correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Correct.
MR. LALLY: Now, as far as the video that you reviewed — were you sort of parsing, or were you looking for specific areas, or did you just sort of take the whole time period requested and send that off?
MR. JUTRAS: As far as I recall, it was the whole time frame, just because we only have two... ...cameras or so that physically cover the area in question, and he had two separate hours in question as well, so they were able to be exported and sent.
MR. LALLY: Now, as far as this particular video — this is video only, correct? There's no audio attached to these cameras?
MR. JUTRAS: Correct. No audio.
MR. LALLY: Now, as far as access to these cameras and the footage within the cameras — who, if anyone, besides yourself, would have access to remove any sort of footage from the cameras?
MR. JUTRAS: No one.
MR. LALLY: Now, sir, before we get to the camera footage specifically, I just want to ask you about another area — in relation to, also within sort of the ambit of... ...your duties and responsibilities — would include GPS on town trucks, correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes. Public Works has a setup via their radios for GPS information.
MR. LALLY: And so with regard to that, specifically the DPW trucks — what, if any, information did you receive from anyone at the DPW in relation to those GPS devices within the trucks, shortly after the snowstorm from the 28th and 29th of January?
MR. JUTRAS: Yep, so on February 1st I received notification from the operations manager that the GPS information was not working.
MR. LALLY: And so you received information after the snowstorm that it wasn't working during the snowstorm, is that correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Correct.
MR. LALLY: And as far as that — is that as... ...far as GPS sort of going down in the DPW trucks — is that abnormal, or how often would that occur?
MR. JUTRAS: It happens several times throughout the year for various reasons. They have a radio repeater, it's connected through a network, it runs software on a server that we have in-house. Servers rebooted, network goes down — things that change for various reasons — and we need to reestablish connection to whatever recorder it is for that repeater, and then the information is then picked up.
MR. LALLY: Now, taking you back to the Canton public library video that you provided to the trooper — were you told anything about any type of vehicle or... ...anything to be looking for within that particular video time frame that they were asking about?
MR. JUTRAS: Not that I recall.
MR. LALLY: Did you recall ever actually watching the video yourself, as far as confirming sort of what it was?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes. I mean, I watched it — the time frame — to see that we had information, watched it just to move forward to the end to make sure there was information and when the recording was physically available, but what was in it — no.
MR. LALLY: May I approach?
JUDGE CANNONE: Yes.
MR. LALLY: I'm showing you a disc. Just ask you — as far as that video from the Canton Public Library — you've seen that video subsequently, is that correct? This disc with the wording on it?
MR. JUTRAS: No. I have not seen this — not that specific disc.
MR. LALLY: I'm sorry, sir, but the footage — have you been shown that particular video footage, or did you review that footage before you gave it to the troopers?
MR. JUTRAS: This is not mine — the one to the trooper.
MR. LALLY: May I approach?
JUDGE CANNONE: Okay. [unintelligible — exhibit discussion.] All right, so you both agree that this will be the next exhibit?
MR. YANNETTI: Yes, sir.
MR. LALLY: Yes, sir.
JUDGE CANNONE: Thanks.
MR. LALLY: With the Court's permission, I would just ask to briefly — excuse me — publish a portion.
JUDGE CANNONE: Hold on. Get — yes, yes. Just — if I could have the first video portion from 12 a.m. to 1...
MR. LALLY: Mr. Jutras, from what's up on the screen — do you see that?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes, I do.
MR. LALLY: And as far as the view from this camera — this is from the library, is that correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Correct.
MR. LALLY: And so as far as what we're looking at here — this is the view from the camera as you observed it on the security camera and as you provided it?
MR. JUTRAS: Correct. Yes, sir.
MR. LALLY: I'm sorry, sir — do you have — is there a laser pointer up on the desk?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes, sir.
MR. LALLY: Are you familiar with this area as far as the area of Canton?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes. Yes. Town hall is right across the street.
MR. LALLY: And I'm sorry — I stepped right over your words when you were saying that. Yeah, so...
MR. JUTRAS: Town hall is right across the street and the... ...intersection here is at Sherman, and this is Washington — the longest street that you'll see. So Washington sort of runs parallel with the screen, and then Sherman is the street here intersecting Washington.
MR. LALLY: Correct, in the area of town?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes, sir.
MR. LALLY: — if you could take that down and then just pull up — sir, what's up on the screen? Do you recognize that?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes.
MR. LALLY: Is this essentially the video that you provided to the troopers — that you retrieved from the Canton town library — from 5:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. later on that day, January 29th?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes, sir.
MR. LALLY: And the orientation as far as Washington Street, Sherman Street — that's all the same in reference to the earlier — the... ...camera hasn't moved?
MR. JUTRAS: Correct.
MR. LALLY: May I have one moment?
JUDGE CANNONE: Sure.
MR. LALLY: Thank you very much, sir. I have no further questions, Your Honor.
JUDGE CANNONE: Okay.
MR. YANNETTI: Good afternoon.
MR. JUTRAS: Good afternoon, attorney.
MR. YANNETTI: So, confirming: the State Police, when they contacted you, asked for two hours of video footage, right? Between 12:00 and 1:00 a.m. on January 29th and between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. on January 29th?
MR. JUTRAS: Correct. Yes, sir.
MR. YANNETTI: You pulled that video footage — or at least arranged for it to be pulled — for the State Police, correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: And I believe your testimony was that you checked the beginning time and the ending time to make sure that you have the right time periods for those two hours, correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes. But you did—
MR. YANNETTI: ...not sit down and watch — I'm sorry — one hour of snow falling and/or cars driving by the public library, correct?
MR. JUTRAS: That is correct.
MR. YANNETTI: You did not do that for between 12 and 1 or between 5 and 6, correct?
MR. JUTRAS: I did not.
MR. YANNETTI: And at the time that you provided the video footage to the state police, did you know whether or not there was any missing footage within those two hours?
MR. JUTRAS: No, because again I did not play every single second of the video.
MR. YANNETTI: Understood. And you're certain that you did not cut out any of the video footage in those two time periods, correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Correct. It's motion activated — that's the only piece.
MR. YANNETTI: You provided the state police with the raw footage as it existed in your possession at that time, correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: And at that time you knew that the raw footage was only saved for between 30 and 60 days?
MR. JUTRAS: That one is less than 30.
MR. YANNETTI: Right. Now, as of early February, when you were dealing with the state police, you knew that Karen Read had been arrested and charged in court, correct?
MR. JUTRAS: I do not recall if I had that information.
MR. YANNETTI: You knew that there had been a police officer found dead on the lawn of another police officer in Canton at that time in February?
MR. JUTRAS: I believe so.
MR. YANNETTI: And that likely would have been discussed when the state police called you?
MR. JUTRAS: I do not recall the conversation other than asking for video footage for Washington Street.
JUDGE CANNONE: I'm sorry, sir — if you could just keep your — if I can't hear you, I guarantee you that these last jurors can't hear you.
MR. YANNETTI: Could you repeat that last answer?
MR. JUTRAS: Again, I — in the conversation, we had the dates and the time frames and anything else relative to it. I do not recall the specific nature of the conversation.
MR. YANNETTI: So you don't have a memory of why you were being asked for this?
MR. JUTRAS: I know it was for a motor vehicle accident. Who and what — I do not recall if that was ever mentioned specifically.
MR. YANNETTI: Okay. And you would agree with me that as the IT director, you had the ability, if you wanted to, to download the footage onto some hard drive to preserve it?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: Did any state trooper ever ask you to download and preserve that footage so that it would exist longer than that 30 to 60-day period?
MR. JUTRAS: No.
MR. YANNETTI: And so it's fair to say you did not do that, correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Correct.
MR. YANNETTI: You complied with what they asked you to do?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: Now, skipping ahead to April 6th of 2023, you were contacted by Michael Proctor, a state trooper investigating this matter, correct?
MR. JUTRAS: I do not recall.
MR. YANNETTI: Do you recall Michael Proctor asking you to provide to the defense in this case the same raw footage you had previously provided to the state police?
MR. JUTRAS: No.
MR. YANNETTI: And you don't recall telling him that you couldn't do that because after 30 to 60 days footage is gone, correct?
MR. JUTRAS: I had a phone call with what I thought was Trooper Dunn, asking for another copy of the data and telling him that I did not have it and I couldn't recreate it.
MR. YANNETTI: I see. So you were — if it was — if it was Proctor, but —
MR. JUTRAS: No, I thought I was speaking with Trooper Dunn.
MR. YANNETTI: Trooper Dunn was the name that you remembered from February, correct?
MR. JUTRAS: That was the first interaction I had.
MR. YANNETTI: And when they mentioned state police you assumed it was the same state police trooper, correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: It's fair to say that once you shared the footage with the state police in February of 2022, you didn't control what they did with it after that, correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Correct.
MR. YANNETTI: And you have no personal knowledge about how they preserved it or didn't preserve it, correct? Do you have any idea?
PARENTHETICAL: [inaudible — scheduling discussion, off-record]
MR. JUTRAS: No.
MR. YANNETTI: And one last question — you cannot testify about whether any video was removed from the footage after you provided it, correct?
MR. JUTRAS: Correct.
MR. YANNETTI: Nothing further. Thank you.
MR. LALLY: No redirect.
COURT OFFICER: You are all set, thank you.
JUDGE CANNONE: ...sometimes happens with law enforcement witnesses, they get called away, so that's it for today. Now, next week I would like to go as much as we possibly can on the days that we're here for full days. So Monday is a full day — I would like to go until 4:30 if everybody can — with the short lunch hour. Tuesday we're not in session. Wednesday is a full day again, we go right till 4:30 with the short lunch. Thursday is a half day, maybe even closer to 12. And Friday we will not be in session. So those are dates that we gave you before, so we will get as much done as we possibly can during that period. Okay, so those same cautions — please do not discuss this case with anyone. Don't do any independent research or investigation into this case.
JUDGE CANNONE: If you happen to see, hear, or read anything about this case, please disregard it. We've got a few days off — just disregard this case, don't think about it. Leave everything here and have a great few days. We'll see you next Monday.
COURT OFFICER: All rise for the court.