Day 11 - May 7, 2025

Trooper Connor Keefe, a Massachusetts State Police digital forensic examiner assigned to the Norfolk DA's homicide unit, testifies about two aspects of his involvement in the case. First, he met Jennifer McCabe and Kerry Roberts to obtain consent forms and their cellular devices, which he brought to the forensics lab for extraction using GrayKey — though he was not involved in analyzing either phone. Second, he describes arriving at 34 Fairview Road around 5:00-5:30 PM on January 29, 2022, where he assisted in processing evidence found by the MSP search team under Lieutenant Brian Tully's supervision. Keefe walked the jury through the physical evidence he collected and bagged that evening: a black Nike shoe (Exhibit 77), taillight pieces including two larger fragments and a smaller chip (Exhibits 78 and BB), and pieces of clear plastic (Exhibits 79 and 80). He explained evidence-handling procedures including bagging, sealing with red tape, and annotating bags with date, time, location, and collector information.

Attorney Yannetti cross-examines Trooper Keefe across three areas. First, he establishes details of the Jennifer McCabe phone consent form, dated February 2, 2022 at 12:08 PM, and enters it as Exhibit 81. Second, Yannetti examines specific aspects of Michael Proctor's work as lead investigator: after reviewing a report, Keefe recalls participating in a joint Sarah Levinson interview with Proctor and testifies that he had no input into how Proctor wrote that report; Keefe also testifies that he obtained surveillance video but did not analyze it, while Proctor analyzed the C.F. McCarthy's video. Third, Yannetti questions Keefe about attending John O'Keefe's autopsy. Keefe testifies that the arm injuries were visible and uncovered, that the medical examiner was working on the body, that he gave known facts rather than a theory, and that no defense attorney or expert was present while he was there. The cross ends after an objection to Yannetti's question about whether Keefe left without a homicide ruling; the question is unanswered.

Hank Brennan conducts redirect examination of Jessica Hyde to rehabilitate her testimony after cross. He establishes that Hyde was not asked to reach any particular conclusion and that her analysis was independent of the district attorney's office. Brennan addresses Cellebrite's removal of the disputed timestamp, eliciting that Cellebrite cited ambiguity and potential for misconstruing the data, and that AXIOM's own documentation also warns about misinterpretation. On the Faraday bag issue, Hyde explains situational reasons phones aren't immediately bagged — including using a deceased victim's biometrics — and confirms the lack of a Faraday bag did not affect her conclusions. Brennan then turns to O'Keefe's phone health data raised on cross, establishing that the last recorded movement was at 12:32:16 a.m. with no further movement until 6:04:01 a.m.

Robert Alessi reopens several threads from redirect on recross. He establishes that Cellebrite's release notes cited 'further research' as the reason for removing the 2:27:40 a.m. timestamp but provided no details about what that research entailed. He confirms that Magnet AXIOM currently recovers and displays the 2:27:40 a.m. timestamp for the artifact; the recross exchange established the vendor display state, not the time of the search. Alessi then establishes that O'Keefe's phone was not placed in airplane mode, a Faraday bag, or a Faraday box from 6:04 a.m. through at least noon on January 29, 2022. Hyde agreed that data on an active phone outside a Faraday enclosure can be overwritten and therefore lost, while maintaining that the lack of a Faraday enclosure did not affect her conclusions. He briefly touches on McCabe's phone call-log deletions before concluding with Hyde confirming that O'Keefe's phone registered motion from 12:31:56 to 12:32:16 a.m.