NFL
By Steve Atkinson
The defense for Karen Read begins this week. Whitey Bulger’s lawyer, Hank Brennan, is allegedly hiding key witnesses from the jury on the Commonwealth side of the case. Notably, he did not call the homeowners, Brian and Nicole Albert, who were inside the house where Karen Read allegedly hit John O’Keeffe with her SUV. Brian, a now-retired Boston police officer, never came out of his house when Officer John O’Keeffe was found on his front lawn.
Karen Read Defense Starts This Week
Additionally, Brian Higgins, who was flirting with Karen Read and was visibly upset at the waterfall, will not testify either. Higgins texted John O’Keeffe minutes after John and Karen left the waterfall, asking, “Are you coming here?”—referring to Brian Albert’s house. If Brennan has nothing to hide, why wouldn’t he call these witnesses? Their absence hurts his case.
Nobody Saw John O’Keeffe On the Lawn After Karen Read Left
Neither Brian Higgins nor anyone else in the house saw John O’Keeffe on the front lawn, despite 47 pieces of red taillight being present. At 1:45-2:00 AM, there were 0.8 inches of snow on the ground as people were leaving the house, which suggests one thing: John was likely dying inside the house. The entire Commonwealth case is built around Jen McCabe’s 2:27 AM Google search of “how long to die in cold.” It seems as if Brennan is defending Jen McCabe rather than Karen Read, which raises questions.
Axim still shows the Google search, while Celebrite deleted the search after updating their software. That seems convenient—who instructed them to delete it? Why does their competitor still have the 2:27 AM timestamp? The inconsistencies are concerning. Brennan hiding the lead investigator, Michael Proctor, could come back to bite him when the defense calls Proctor to the stand. They will directly ask him if he was the lead investigator in the case.
The Defense Will Call Key Witnesses
The defense plans to call several witnesses, including Brian and Nicole Albert, Brian Higgins, Michael Proctor, Richard Green, Dr. Marie Russell, Garrett Wing, and others. Wing and Russell will testify that the marks on John O’Keeffe’s arm were caused by a dog, not a broken taillight. Richard Green will confirm that the Google search at the 2:27 AM timestamp did occur.
Michael Proctor will need to revisit the texts that resulted in his firing from the State Police, where he made disparaging remarks about Karen Read, assuming they would never come to light. He then “miraculously” found taillight pieces weeks later, claiming it was due to melting snow. However, they used shovels after they towed her car from Dighton to Canton and found a couple of pieces before being ordered to stop.
I’m looking forward to the trial ramping up this week with key witnesses that will prove Karen Reads innocence. It’s going to be an expose to the Commonwealth like none we’ve ever seen.
