Commonwealth v. Read — Trial ArchivePaul Gallagher - Redirect/Recross
37 linesJUDGE CANNONE: Mr. Lally, just briefly.
MR. LALLY: One — Now, Lieutenant, if I could ask you — a phrase that was posed to you a couple of times during cross-examination, as far as the refusal of your department — how would you define that term in this specific sense, in this specific case?
MR. GALLAGHER: Yes. We did not want to go on any investigative interviews because one of our best investigators' name is Kevin Albert — he's the property owner's brother — and we didn't think it would be appropriate if we were on those interviews questioning his family members.
MR. LALLY: Now with regard to death investigations specifically — unattended death investigations — what if any role does your department have when it comes to those? What if any jurisdiction does your department have versus the state police?
MR. GALLAGHER: The state police takes jurisdiction. They run the investigation. We assist them in any way we can. We try to help out.
MR. LALLY: Now, sir, you were asked some questions — you indicated — in regard to the drinking glass that you located in the area where Mr. O'Keefe's body was — that it didn't come from the house. Why is that?
MR. GALLAGHER: I think I said I believe we didn't think it came from the house at that time because they were out at the Waterfall Bar & Grille the night before, and the initial statements from detectives — Sergeant Lank and Sergeant Goode, obtained — nobody put John O'Keefe anywhere but where he was found, and that included his girlfriend.
MR. LALLY: Now if I could take a step back just to the state police jurisdiction over unattended deaths — what if any assets does the state police have as far as investigative assets that your department doesn't?
MR. GALLAGHER: They have far superior tools to investigate. They have direct access to the crime lab. They have a CARS team that can do accident reconstruction.
MR. LALLY: Now with regard to — turning your attention to February 1st of 2022, when you're in the sallyport — you mentioned that Officer Wanless came in with a toolkit to assist in removing the tail light, correct?
MR. GALLAGHER: That's correct.
MR. LALLY: And is it your understanding that essentially he just removed a clip from the back of the tail light in order to take it out of the vehicle?
MR. GALLAGHER: I believe you can see on the video how it just pops out into the criminalist's hands.
MR. LALLY: And as far as your review of that video, or your observations that day, there was nothing about the tail light that was broken during that removal process, correct?
MR. GALLAGHER: Correct.
MR. LALLY: Now as far as cross-contamination — you were asked about that — you indicated it was not a yes or no answer, but what if anything else would you have to add?
MR. GALLAGHER: What counsel was depicting was the transfer of custody over to the state police. So the criminalist was handling it at that time. The photographer was photographing it. The criminalist was transferring the blood into their plastic containers. And that's why — I'm sure it was being handled by a criminalist — it wasn't going to be any cross-contamination. I wasn't concerned about cross-contamination.
MR. LALLY: So that was the scenario that you were describing earlier in your direct examination, as far as turning those items physically over to the criminalist on February first in the sallyport area, and they converting them to their plastic containers?
MR. GALLAGHER: Yes.
MR. LALLY: Thank you, sir. Nothing further.
JUDGE CANNONE: Okay. Very briefly.
MR. JACKSON: You said that no one — none of the witnesses put John O'Keefe anywhere but where he was found. That's what you just said, correct?
MR. GALLAGHER: That's correct.
MR. JACKSON: So your investigative technique is just to ask a witness how'd that dead body get there, and if they say I have no idea, your job's just done, right?
MR. LALLY: Objection.
JUDGE CANNONE: Sustained.
MR. JACKSON: If a witness says we found him here, you just take the witness at their word?
JUDGE CANNONE: Jackson — you can go ahead and answer that, sir.
MR. GALLAGHER: No, of course not.
MR. JACKSON: You might want to investigate a little further, right?
MR. GALLAGHER: Absolutely.
MR. JACKSON: And ask them questions that
MR. GALLAGHER: ...is correct. Get search warrants. That's — look, when there's probable cause, we do.
MR. JACKSON: Absolutely none of that was done here, though.
MR. GALLAGHER: No probable cause.
MR. JACKSON: Thanks. That's all I have.
JUDGE CANNONE: You are all set, Lieutenant. Thank you.