Day 25 - June 14, 2024

Jessica Hyde, a digital forensics examiner and owner of Hexordia, testifies as a prosecution expert about two Google searches on Jennifer McCabe's phone: "how long to die in cold" and "how long to die in ckd." After extensive qualification testimony covering her Marine Corps background, government intelligence work, and academic credentials, Hyde walks the jury through her analysis of Safari browser artifacts, SQLite databases, and write-ahead log (WAL) files. She concludes that the searches occurred at approximately 6:23-6:24 a.m. on January 29, 2022 — not at 2:27 a.m. as defense expert Richard Green's affidavit asserted — and that the 2:27 timestamp reflects tab movement activity, not search time. Hyde further concludes there was no evidence of user deletion, explaining that the WAL file's "recovered" marking is commonly misinterpreted by examiners as indicating deletion.

David Yannetti conducts a focused cross-examination of prosecution expert Jessica Hyde about her conclusion that the 2:27 a.m. timestamp reflected tab movement rather than the time of the challenged Google search. Yannetti asks whether her analysis can rule out an earlier search; Hyde calls that a very unlikely possibility, says there is no evidence of a search before that time, and explains that she cannot rule out an event that is not recorded. Yannetti then establishes that Detective Tully relayed an assignment focused on Safari history for January 29, 2022; Hyde says she also reviewed related phone-use artifacts but was not instructed to examine call logs. Yannetti asks whether call-log review could reveal deleted calls, Hyde answers, and Judge Cannone sustains Lally's objection.

In this voir dire outside the jury's presence, ADA Lally elicits Trooper Paul's opinion that the low-speed contact between Karen Read's Lexus and John O'Keefe's Traverse, captured on Ring video, was not consistent with the broken taillight on Read's vehicle. Paul testifies the taillight sits 42-50 inches off the ground, above the bumper line, and O'Keefe's vehicle shows no corresponding damage. Jackson cross-examines aggressively, establishing that Paul never physically tested the two vehicles together, never conducted force testing on the taillight, and agrees that a taillight might crack in a low-speed impact; Paul also says he cannot say definitively whether the vehicles contacted each other. Jackson further establishes that Paul formed this opinion only two weeks before trial after a meeting with Lally, never memorialized it in any report, and first saw the video on Court TV rather than during his investigation. The judge reserves ruling, requesting copies of the video and photographs for weekend review.

Defense attorney Alan Jackson moves to exclude testimony from crash reconstruction officer Joseph Paul concerning a proposed opinion that the displayed vehicle contact was not consistent with the taillight damage, arguing that the opinion was not disclosed before testimony. Jackson characterizes the issue as part of a pattern of Commonwealth witnesses presenting opinions formed during recent preparation; prosecutor Adam Lally argues the proposed testimony falls within Paul's expertise and disputes the defense account of how the opinion arose. The parties clarify that the exhibit was the same video displayed with live magnification, not an enhanced video. Judge Cannone reserves ruling and requests the video and related photographs for review.