Day 27 - June 4, 2025

Loughran, Kolokithas

8Proceedings

4Pages

2Witnesses

1,699Lines

Day 27 of 36

Appearing:

Canton plow driver Brian Loughran testifies he saw no body on the Albert lawn during multiple well-lit passes between 2:45 and 3:40 a.m., while pharmacist Karina Kolokithas describes an affectionate, sober Karen Read at the Waterfall bar hours before O'Keefe's death.

Full day summary

Day 27 centered on two defense witnesses. Brian Loughran, a Canton DPW snowplow driver with 20 years of experience, testified that he made multiple passes of Fairview Road in the early hours of January 29, 2022, saw no body on the Albert front lawn, and observed an unusual Ford Edge parked near the flagpole around 3:30 a.m. — a vehicle the Alberts had never before parked out front. ADA Brennan's cross and two rounds of recross addressed distinct prior-statement issues: an SUV sighting, an emergency-vehicle account Loughran denied, and his correction of a Trial 1 police-blockade estimate from 5:30 to 6:15. Brennan also built a bias narrative suggesting pro-defense bloggers harassed Loughran before Trial 1, then embraced him after his favorable testimony. Defense redirects framed the police-blockade estimate as an arithmetic error and established that Loughran's earliest statement predated any blogger contact by over a year. Karina Kolokithas, a Canton pharmacist, testified to spending approximately 50 minutes face-to-face with Karen Read at the Waterfall bar, observing no signs of impairment, and witnessing an affectionate forehead kiss from O'Keefe. She also described Jennifer McCabe urging Read to come with her as the group left — a detail relevant to the defense's theory about events at 34 Fairview. Brennan's brief cross of Kolokithas focused on humanizing O'Keefe and confirming Read was walking to the driver's side as the couple departed.

Key Moments

Loughran testifies he saw no body on the Albert front lawn during plow passes between 2:40 a.m. and 3:40 a.m., with truck lights he described as 'almost as if I had a spotlight.'
Loughran places an unusual Ford Edge parked near the Albert flagpole around 3:30 a.m. — a location the family never used for parking.
Brennan tests Loughran with distinct prior-statement issues: a Ford Edge sighting, an emergency-vehicle account Loughran denied, and his correction of a Trial 1 5:30 estimate to 6:15 for the police-blocked approach.
Brennan constructs a before/after bias narrative: pro-defense bloggers harassed Loughran before Trial 1, then embraced him after he testified favorably for the defense.
Pharmacist Karina Kolokithas testifies Read showed no signs of impairment after 50 minutes of face-to-face conversation, and describes McCabe specifically urging Read to 'come with me' as the group left the Waterfall.

Notable Quotes

Hank Brennan

“You were no longer being harassed. You were being embraced.”

Brennan's sharpest formulation of his witness-influence theory — that Loughran's testimony was shaped not by independent memory but by social incentives from the pro-defense community.

Karina Kolokithas

“Jen went over to Karen, kind of put her arm around her, and started saying, "You're coming with me. You're coming with me."”

Kolokithas said McCabe's phrase "you're coming with me" stood out to her; the court immediately sustained an objection to her fuller answer, then allowed follow-up limited to the first part.

David Yannetti

“Did you see a 6'1", 216-pound man lying on that lawn?”

Yannetti's question to Loughran crystallizes the day's central evidentiary dispute — whether a 6'1", 216-pound man could have been lying on the Albert lawn during Loughran's well-lit passes without being seen.