The retrial of Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman accused of hitting her police officer boyfriend with her car and leaving him for dead, will resume following an abrupt one-day break in court proceedings.
Jennifer Donahue, a spokesperson for Massachusetts state courts, confirmed day 15 of the trial is set to begin at 9 a.m. Donahue has not said what led to the pause in the trial, only that it was “due to unavoidable circumstances.”
Prosecutors say 45-year-old Read deliberately hit John O’Keefe with her SUV outside the home of a fellow cop and left him for dead in January 2022. Read’s lawyers say she was framed for O’Keefe’s murder and suggested someone inside the home killed him. Her first trial ended in a hung jury.
Before the abrupt break, Massachusetts State Trooper Yuri Bukhenik wrapped up his testimony after three days on the stand. Bukhenik talked about what led investigators to suspect Read in O’Keefe’s death, including her broken taillight and that she allegedly told first responders at the scene, “I hit him,” referring to O’Keefe.
Read’s defense attorney grilled Bukhenik about the integrity of his investigation and his former subordinate, Michael Proctor, the disgraced state trooper who was suspended after sending lewd texts after Read’s first trial and was later fired.State police officer pressed on investigation of Read’s car
Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Zacharay Clark said he arrived at the Canton Police Department around 9 a.m. the morning of January 29, 2022, to help in the investigation of O’Keefe’s death. He testified about his process for photographing Read’s Lexus SUV and testing the car’s backup camera.
A test of Read’s front tires for friction ridge impressions, the impressions created by the skin pattern on hands and feet, found “no useable impressions,” Clark said.
O’Keefe’s niece takes the stand
Prosecutors called O’Keefe’s niece to the stand. No audio or video recording of Furbush’s testimony is allowed because she is under 18.
Would O’Keefe and Read have broken up?
Prosecutors played two clips of interviews with Read conducted in 2024. In the first, from her sit-down with NBC’s Dateline, Read said that she and O’Keefe would not have broken up if he had not died.
In the second, from an ID docuseries, Read said that O’Keefe likely did not know about her text exchange with Brian Higgins
How to watch the Karen Read trial
CourtTV has been covering the case against Read and the criminal investigation since early 2022, when O’Keefe’s body was found outside a Canton, Massachusetts home.
You can watch CourtTV’s live feed of the Read trial proceedings from Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts. Proceedings begin at 9 a.m. ET.
, an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – who was at a restaurant where the couple went drinking the night before O’Keefe died and the home where O’Keefe was found in the snow. If O’Keefe had known about the texts, she said the couple likely would have broken up.
