Karen Read Trial: Focus shifts to physical evidence
By Jay TurnerTestimony was scheduled to resume yesterday in the murder trial of Karen Read with State Police Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik due back on the stand following an emotional full-day session in which jurors were shown photos of the victim’s body as well as items of clothing he was wearing on the night that he was killed.
With the trial now in its sixth week, the focus has begun to shift to some of the physical evidence in the case, which prosecutors believe points squarely at Read as the sole culprit.
While Read’s attorneys continue to maintain their client’s innocence and insist that she was framed at the behest of a well-connected Canton family, prosecutors allege that it was Read who caused the fatal injuries to her boyfriend — Boston Police Officer and Canton resident John O’Keefe — by backing into him with her SUV in the early morning hours on January 29, 2022. Citing evidence of relationship strife in the weeks leading up to his death, they assert that an increasingly fragile Read, who they say was intoxicated when she drove O’Keefe to the home of fellow BPD officer Brian Albert to attend a party, intentionally struck O’Keefe before fleeing the scene, only to return hours later with witnesses and claim to discover his body.
A key element to the state’s case are several pieces of red and clear plastic that were recovered at the scene and are believed to have come from Read’s damaged right rear taillight. Witnesses say Read herself commented on the damage on the morning that she went to search for O’Keefe; her attorneys, however, have pointed to Ring camera footage suggesting that she may have damaged it that same morning by bumping into O’Keefe’s parked vehicle while exiting his driveway. They have also intimated that State Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead detective on the case and a longtime Canton resident with alleged ties to the Alberts, could have tampered with or even planted evidence in order to implicate Read.
While Proctor has still yet to testify and speculation continues to swirl around whether he will ultimately do so, Sgt. Bukhenik, who worked closely on the case alongside Proctor, appeared on the witness stand on Wednesday and walked ADA Adam Lally through an investigation that he said was entirely by the book.
On the handling of O’Keefe’s clothing, which was allegedly found to contain key trace evidence, Bukhenik said he and Proctor recovered the items from the hospital and placed them into sealed evidence bags.
From there, said Bukhenik, the bags were brought to the evidence room, where the clothing was laid out to dry before being locked in evidence storage. Bukhenik testified that neither he nor Proctor had access to those rooms, which are routinely inventoried and secured with physical as well as digital locks and an alarm system.
While on the witness stand, Bukhenik first showed the jurors the sealed bags containing the clothing and then opened the bags and held up each item for visual inspection. Bukhenik also testified on Wednesday about the condition of O’Keefe’s body, and the jurors were then shown photographs that Bukhenik said were taken at the hospital by crime scene services.
Prior to permitting the photos to be displayed, Judge Beverly Cannone warned the jury that they could be considered “graphic” and reminded them that their findings must be based soley on the evidence and not as a result of “sympathy, anger, passion or prejudice or pity” either for or against either side in this case. Bukhenik confirmed that the photos shown were the ones taken by crime scene services and noted “swelling of the eyelids” as well as a “slight laceration” on his nostril and eyelid and visible abrasions on his upper right forearm and bicep area.”
Read’s attorneys have suggested that O’Keefe’s injuries appear to be more consistent with someone who has taken a physical beating, and at one point during his testimony Bukhenik tried to offer his professional opinion on why O’Keefe had two black and swollen eyes, prompting an objection from Read’s team that was sustained …
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