Tonight on Canton. Confidential. The Karen Read murder trial. Tense moments inside the courtroom. While outside a trip. Beyond the buffer zone. To the scene of the alleged crime. Between that report that she gave to Trooper Proctor. That statement that she gave to Trooper Proctor and yesterday's testimony. Your statement has evolved. I've always testified to my. I feel as though my testimony has been considered tonight. Good evening. I'm JC Monahan. Glenn Jones has the night off. The first week of testimony has come to an end. And today, several first responders took the stand. The jury stepped outside the courtroom. Jurors visited two sites in Canton, one of the bars where John O'Keefe and Karen Read were that night, and the front yard were eventually John O'Keefe was found. The jury also got a close up look at the vehicle that we know is similar to the one prosecutors say Read was driving when she allegedly hit her Boston police officer boyfriend. We do have team coverage this evening taking you both inside and outside the Dedham courthouse. We want to begin with NBC 10 S Eli Rosenberg. He's going to give us a closer look at the jury's visit to Canton. Eli JC. It's been a busy week. We've had opening statements and a lot of testimony and a lot of focus on this House in Canton, 34 Fairview Road and a black SUV. Prosecutors say Karen Read was driving. Today, jurors got to see both firsthand and like so much during this case and trial, this attracted a lot of attention. Karen, how do you think the view went for the jury? Well, Karen Read leaving court on Friday evening, hours after the jury in her criminal trial made their first site visit under heavy security. It's a spectacle, that's for sure. Jurors spending about an hour outside 34 Fairview Road in Canton. It was outside here that prosecutors say Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe spotty was found in late January 2022. I'm a little uneasy coming down. Marney Selkowitz was watching the trial Friday morning. Heard about the site visit and raced over from Brookline. The scene in person is it's kind of crazy. The whole thing. Also outside the home on Friday, this black Lexus SUV. Prosecutors allege Read was driving a black SUV when she hit O'Keefe and left him for dead. And while it isn't clear if this is the same SUV as you can see, this one is also missing a back passenger tail light saw the jurors cut, meandering around. They had some sticks. I don't know what that was all. Sometimes it's more. It's not as easy to understand how what the actual layout looks like, unless you actually visit the scene in this way, it gives a little bit more context and perspective. Attorney Catherine Loftus has been tracking the retrial on TikTok and says site visits like what we saw on Friday really helped jurors put into context what they're hearing and seen in court. I think anybody knows that a picture is never quite the same as what it what it looks like in real life. So for the jury to go to the actual scene, to be able to look at everything, it it's always preferable to do it that way. Now, Eli, the judge gave a lot of restrictions before today's you site visit. It's called a view. Can you walk us through what was and was not allowed, not just by the jury, but by the media as well? Yeah. JC there was actually a court order in place over all of this, and it said that members of the media, members of the public had to be kept back 100 yards. You saw the state police there taking charge of that. Also, while they were out there, jurors not allowed to take any notes or photos. And right now, JC, it is not clear if this will be the only site visit of this trial. JC All right, Eli, we know you'll follow it for us. Thank you. Back inside the Dedham courthouse, it was another day of detailed testimony from several first responders. And once again on cross the defense questioned the first responders memory of that morning, and a graphic photo was shown of some of John O'Keefe's injuries. NBC 10's John Moroney breaks down the important moments. Respectfully, I think my testimony has been pretty consistent. Canton firefighter Cade McLaughlin, defending her recollection after John O'Keefe's body was found on the snowy front lawn of a Canton home. She told jurors Thursday that she heard Karen Read say I hit him. Under cross-examination , she acknowledged she's added details to her initial story. I understand what you're saying. So has your story evolved? Okay yes. The defense suggested McLaughlin's testimony is biased altogether, given her friendship with Caitlin Albert. Her parents owned the home where O'Keefe's body was found, and Reed's lawyers have said her father, Brian, conspired with others to blame their client. McLaughlin said she doesn't know the younger Albert very well. We're not close friends. I would say we're more acquaintances. We have mutual friends. I don't have a one on one relationship with her. The observations that you make while on the View may be used and considered in your deliberations. In reaching a verdict after four days of testimony, the jury was given a first hand look at 34 Fairview Road in Canton. The crime scene where John O'Keefe's body was found. There was also going to be a vehicle there as well. And I'm going to ask you to take note of certain things with respect to that vehicle. They believe you're a threat to yourself or others. The week's proceedings ended Friday with more first responders. The jury was shown a picture of big scratches on John O'Keefe's arm, plus, they learned how Read was eventually taken to the hospital because she made threats against her life, saying, I don't want to. I don't want to live anymore. If my husband dies, I don't want to. I don't want to be alive anymore. The jurors have gone home for the day. They will be back on Monday for the start of the second week of testimony in Dedham. John Moroney, NBC 10. Boston. And now our trial insider, Sue O'Connell, is joining us. Sue, the prosecution gave the jury a lot to think about as they head into the weekend. Can you talk about the testimony from the paramedic, Katie McLaughlin? Because that's what seemed to really get the prosecution a little heated. I mean, the defense a little heated, yeah. But also it got the prosecution a little heated. It was kind of the first time we saw something happening in the trial that wasn't sort of predictable. I mean, we're talking about the reports of the detail that Katie McLaughlin was giving, but the real back and forth was around Alan Jackson's questioning of her relationship with Caitlin Alpert. Her family owned the home where John O'Keefe was found, and it was a little striking because Alan Jackson, I think, is a very good lawyer, but he seemed a little tone deaf . We're going to talk later in the show about introducing the evidence of photos, but after that was resolved, it seemed he was confused that teenage girls ten years ago might have thousands of pictures on their phone, and that you and I might be in a friend group if we're in high school, but we may not even like each other. We may be forced to be together all the time. That doesn't mean that we have a friendship. So McLaughlin really pushed back on this. This option of her being friends with Caitlin, Albert, but more that they were just acquaintances who were in a big friend group, and she didn't say they were in thousands of pictures together, but that's just my inference. No, the point was here she is, a paramedic on the scene treating John O'Keefe and the defense was basically saying, but you have a reason for conspiracy in this because you knew this. Caitlin Albert back in high school and you know, so and I get it. You don't always remember every photo that's taken of you. But we heard a lot of the same thing. Like, how could you not remember someone you went to high school with? This is the first time we heard about Karen Reed's medical history. Yes, it's the first time I was. I was wondering when this was going to come in. Why do were paramedics sent back to the scene? So John O'Keefe has been brought to the hospital and the paramedics are on the way home and they get called back to the site for what's called a section 12. Can you talk about that? Yeah. Section 12 is when someone is involuntary put in a hospital due to mental health issues. The paramedics say that she threatened to kill herself or or self-harm. She was incredibly distraught by all reports. She did go back and forth a little bit with her mood, but they felt that she was a danger to herself and so they wanted to hospitalize her. And again, this is one of those things. No matter who you think did this or what you think happened, being distraught at the scene of finding the body of your boyfriend and then having to interact with police on the snowy morning, as we know it was snowy, it definitely would make you make one upset, so I'm not sure where that goes for the prosecution or the defense, but it did give the defense an opportunity to introduce the jury to the jury that Karen has miss. And I imagine that we might hear more about that as the trial goes on. That was brand new. But even the paramedics said her her demeanor was what you would expect, one would expect in a situation like you just described, but then got into her response in the hospital, which came across very angry, wouldn't get into the Johnny you know, yell. I think nurses or there were some interaction that basically didn't paint her in the best light. Right? But I will tell you, as someone who has tried to section someone, it's not like they go voluntarily. That's why it's involuntary. Done involuntarily. So when you have someone who's in mental distress and you're trying to hospitalize them, it's not like they say, hey, thanks for putting me in the hospital, right? Yes. I'll urinate in this cup and I'll put it on this journey. That's what it was, you know. And you know, my boyfriend is dead. So her behavior as reported. No. Again, no matter how you think this went down is appropriate. So we'll see where we go forward with this, with what the defense will take from it. Just on a side note, as we wrap up, she referred to him as her husband. Right. And I think that's because she wasn't going to be allowed back to see him unless she was next of kin. As a lesbian who's was not able to marry. That happens a lot in the world. So she had the presence of mind to do that. But you know, we don't know where that falls in that. So. Well, we'll see where the testimony goes from here. So you'll be back in the next half hour. So don't go anywhere. We'll hear more from her. But first, the role social media has played in this very high profile case. Stay with us. You're watching STAY WITH US - YOU'RE WATCHING *CANTO Welcome back. Joining me now is David Richard. He's CEO of Big Fish PR and a professor at Emerson College. Thank you, Richard, for being with us. David. I should say talk about I want to talk to you about the build up to this case. This started out with, you know, maybe a little article in the newspaper. In the years since, there has been a real interest that has peaked, that now we have national attention. Can you talk about the PR as a PR specialist and sort of how that spin happened, that so many people are invested in this? Certainly it has all the ingredients that that you're looking for in this story that just you can't look away from. And it's a layered on top of, what we've been seeing on digital media for years, going with serial, the, the true crime series, right, where people can't wait for the next episode to drop. And that's what we're seeing. We're, you know, each each day of the trial is something that you can't you have to tune into, and you can't. There's no spoiler alert. You can't go to the end. You have to follow it. And so the ingredients that have come together here are, you know, there's two storylines, that are , on each side. You know, what you would see at the sort of the end of some big, true crime? Well, people made up their minds. I mean, there are supporters out there who have been out there to the point that we have a 200 foot buffer zone around the court because they had signs Karen Read supporters dressed in pink. But there were also people who were supporting not just John O'Keefe's family and John O'Keefe, but the police as well. This seems to have all stemmed from social media. Yeah. So what's happened is that you have these internet sleuths, they've dug in, they looked at the bits of the story that you could get even before the trial started. And they started doing their own digging and creating their own narratives. And now what you have is, you know, thousands upon thousands of people, all, you know, with looking into the different angles and potential motives, formation and misinformation. And so, you know, have the people believe that, you know, it's a frame up and have the people believe that it's this, you know, murderous romance. And, you know, nobody knows really what it is because the trial is still going on. But they've all kind of chosen the narrative that they want, and they're tuning in to see how it's going to play out. I just look back, you can't make comparisons between trials, but I look back to O.J. Simpson, where this kind of attention came once trial started. Once you started hearing the facts, this blew up in the time leading up to the trial, given social media. And what's going on? Is this what we can expect from trials moving forward, at least ones that have this kind of divisive storyline, for sure. Once, once it snowballs and it reaches that critical mass. That's what we're going to see. This is this is sort of the status quo of trials that reach that sort of limelight light level that the, the entire country is looking at. And I really believe that this case would be on the front page of every single news story. If the if the Trump case wasn't going on right now. Interesting. You think that that's the only reason this isn't getting even more completely if that if that if the Trump trial was to conclude today and this was still going on, this would be on the front page of all the national news. Well, we have 6 to 8 more weeks. They estimate, before this wraps up. So we never know where this could go from here. David, Richard, thank you so much for joining me tonight and giving that perspective. I really appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Well there's still much more to talk about tonight, including something we noticed was missing inside the courtroom today. Our Sue O'Connell will be back in studio for that. Plus we're taking your trial questions to the experts. Those answers when we come QUESTIONS TO THE EXPERTS. We are back now with two guests. We have Sue O'Connell burning and Morgiana Derosier, an attorney with Bay State Law Group who specializes in criminal defense. Sue I want to start with you. One of the first things you said to me when I saw you back here at NBC 10 was what was missing in the courtroom today that that you found sort of startling. Yeah. The you know, it's a small courtroom. There's only, you know, maybe less than 12 supporters of Karen Read or family and friends. And the O'Keefe's not sitting together. And every day that I've been in the courtroom, the people behind Karen Read have been wearing pink, which is the color that they have adopted as to show their support for Karen Read because they can't have signs within the buffer zone. Today, none of them had pink on one of the gentlemen might have had a shirt on that was a light lilac. I couldn't really see it clearly, but it was striking to me because yesterday or the other day it looked like an Easter parade. And then today they had on. They were all very well dressed all along, but there was no pink whatsoever. I don't know if there was a message sent to them by the defense team that the pink is too much, or that we were going to see autopsy photos today, and that maybe some respect should be shown that you don't need to really broadcast your support in that moment. But I'm sure it's all orchestrated. Yeah. Does that sound does that ring? You know, sometimes you do have to pay respect to the court. It is a formal proceeding and you want to be respectful of that. So I didn't see that part today, but I could imagine that that's what it would be for. Well, we've been inviting viewers to give us their questions, and we need a legal expert to answer it. It's not going to be me or me. So here is the question from Leon B in West Roxbury. He asks, how can the prosecution make objections without any grounds for said objection? I thought objections had to be based on something. Is this a Massachusetts thing? There you can see what was sent in. That's what I just read there. Margarita without making us learn everything about the legal system. In short, what is that about? We don't hear. Objection Leading the witness. It's just I object. So just on the basis. Objections are to preserve the record, right? So whoever wins or loses, let's just put it that way, is going to appeal. Right. So whoever the appeals attorney is going to look at the record and you can only preserve what you object. Now, each judge or judges or courtrooms will have their own flavor or style where you can state your objection or not. But the judge, for the most part, what I'm seeing understands what the objection is and is taking her stance on what that could be. Or they may go to sidebar and sometimes you guys have seen them go to sidebar. They'll have full discussions on what the objection is. There were a lot of sidebars today. So objecting before, sometimes the question gets out. And today she had a direct one of the witnesses that if she says sustained, they're supposed to stop talking, which I thought was a few days in here to testimony. It's like like a race, right? To make sure. Because once we talked about this, the last time that we had you here is that once the jury hears it, they can't unhear it. So, right. The objection is just get it in so that you can get them to stop talking. And again, you just have to remember it's the judge's job to make sure the facts come out on both sides. Right. And so it's a playing field. So sometimes the judge will have to remind the witnesses. You cannot further answer or do not further answer because there is an objection that was sustained or something of that nature. So. Well, so talk to me about what you thought about the both of you, about the prosecution today, because we've sort of said how slow it's been leading up. And today on this Friday, we got a you know, one fact after another that even seemed to rile up the defense attorneys a little bit. I mean, we saw Alan Jackson kind of get his get a little hot under the collar. What did you think? So again, you know, I think 6 to 8 weeks is a really long time. And, you know, I said this from day one, you can't really count either side out. You know, we saw the defense coming in real strong on the first couple of days. And the prosecution may come out in the next few days. We have a long way to go. Did you like the tactic though? Today I did, I did I really did like the tactic. I liked the directness that he was directing towards the jury. And sometimes you need that because the facts are the facts, but you have to make it relatable to whatever you're trying to prove at that time. Did you feel a difference today? Yeah I definitely did. I mean, I think part of it is and I don't mean this, you know, people do their jobs. They're not meant to be witnesses and give testimony. But some of the witnesses had a little bit more gravitas today than the other witnesses did. And they had more command. I thought of exactly what happened on the scene. It might have been because their jobs are different. Again, I'm not saying one person or the other. I mean, these are just civilians coming in telling people what they saw and didn't see, but it did feel like there was a little bit more gravitas, which helped the prosecution. And I think Katie McLaughlin this morning, we've talked a lot about this. She really kind of went back at and Jackson paramedic in a way that other witnesses had not. And that kind of brought the heat up in, in, in the courtroom. You noticed also we can't see the jury obviously. But you made a comment when we came in today. It felt like a Friday. Yeah They look tired. I don't know if I was projecting because I was tired, but there was definitely to your point. Oh my gosh, this is just one week and it's Friday and now we have to go on a site visit and then we have to come back and hear more testimony. I mean, I'm projecting, of course, but you could just see in the body language of the jurors that there was just they were just tired, I can imagine. And again, Morgiana, you said it yourself. We are only in the first week, only the first pace ourselves. All right. When the trial resumes next week, we want you to join the conversation. Thanks to Leon for sending in tonight's question for Morgiana. And if you have something you'd like to ask us, CONFIDENTIAL AT NBC UNI DOT Week one of testimony is in the books. It resumes Monday morning at 9 a.m. in Dedham. And then we'll see you. Hopefully back here at 7 p.m. for another edition of Canton Confidential. Scan that QR code right there to get more details or look at the timeline. Have a great weekend everyone. We'll see you on
