DAY 10: Karen Read Retrial
Karen's voicemails are played, grid search for evidence explained, and more.
Witnesses on the stand today:
LT. Paul Gallagher (Canton Police Officer)
Robert Gilman (Meteorologist)
Trooper Nicholas Guarino (Digital Forensics Investigator)
LT. Charles Rae (Canton Police Officer)
LT. Kevin O’Hara (MSP - SERT team leader)
LT. PAUL GALLAGHER
Second day on the stand. The morning starts with Gallagher on cross-examination.
During initial search, LT Gallagher removed a portion of snow to uncover the berm (rounded curb line) to find where the property line meets the street. He also wanted to see if it was a potential attribute to John’s injuries (possibly tripped). He uncovered about 15-18 inches of the berm.
No prints found in snow. No drag marks, No dog prints.
No one insinuated any fight occurred that night at the property.
Jackson asks if LT Gallagher went into 34 Fairview to see if John’s cocktail glass matched the kitchenware in the home. Gallagher says no. (Further elaborates on this topic in the short video clip below).
Jackson asks if he checked the basement in 34 Fairview. Gallagher says no.
LT. Gallagher says they had no probable cause to search the inside of the home. “No one could put John in the house, including Ms. Read.”
LT Gallagher said they didn’t take the witnesses in for a formal interview at the station because they were recused from the case after the initial interviews that day.
Jackson asks about the neighboring off-duty officer (who lives across the street, catty-corner) if he had a motion-activated security camera on his house. Gallagher says yes, but it’s in a downward angle at doorstep area and front lawn. He’s aware of this because Gallagher is friendly with this officer and has picked up packages for the officer at the property before. The officer had sent him screenshots from the security camera of packages. It does not show the street area.
Fairview Road is a busy, public road. Having a camera pointing directly at it with that amount of vehicles driving by on a daily basis would not be ideal for a motion-activated camera to be aimed at.
Gallagher says the angle of that neighboring home from 34 Fairview would not be captured on that home security, which is why he didn’t bother asking to view it. Says it was not ‘practical’.
Gallagher knows ATF Brian Higgins. They worked on an assignment together years ago, and then Higgins eventually had an office desk at the Canton Police Department. They were friendly at work and outside of work.
Gallagher was not initially aware that Higgins was one of the guest attendees that night at 34 Fairview until he had read all officer narrative reports within the first 24 hours. Officer Lank had it in his report.
LT. Gallagher has a keycard to the CPD, but does not have special access to the Armory room or the Evidentiary room. He is unsure of all the areas Brian Higgins has security access to, but does know he has general LE access to the Sally Port garage.
The initial evidence brought to the CPD was documented in the garage. Gallagher personally carried the cup evidence to the Sally Port garage himself.
Defense points out the cup evidence was not sealed and secured forensically with tape, and Gallagher agrees. This was the evidence collected rapidly in the blizzard, so it’s not ideal, but the criminologists are trained.
Defense points out this evidence photo of the criminologist holding the bag open for a photo is right next to the right back tire of the SUV.
Karen’s seized SUV was in the CPD garage for 3 days. All CPD officers have access to that garage.
If a victim is officially declared deceased, the case gets transferred immediately to the Investigation Agency, and they become the decision-makers of how things are handled. Gallagher said it was officially in the IA hands to decide when and how evidence photos were taken after that point.
VIDEO PLAYED:
(Same clip from prosecution’s opening, played again to officially add in as evidence)
ROBERT GILMAN (Meteorologist)
Gilman says the blizzard on January 29th, 2022 was the biggest snowstorm in Boston history for the month of January.
Ground surface temperature was freezing and soil was “impenetrable”.
Ground temp: 23-28 degrees Farenheit between midnight and 6am.
TROOPER NICK GUARINO (returns)
Trooper Guarino is back on the stand to introduce the calls, texts, and voicemail messages that Karen left John O’Keefe on 1/29/22.
Karen’s phone connects to John’s wifi router at 12:36:39 am. Karen may have connected within 300 ft outside the property when arriving depending on the connection.
Karen calls him 53 times between 12:33 AM and just past 6:00 AM. Texts him several times.
Guarino presents a powerpoint of calls, texts, and audio voicemails:
(Note: Screaming and profanity are on these recordings played in court.)
Start at the 9:20 mark…
LT CHARLES RAE (Canton Police Officer)
LT Rae was not part of the response team that morning at 34 Fairview, but was requested to do a wellness check around 8:30am at John’s property because they were concerned there were 2 children there alone.
Did not know whose car was whose on the driveway, and had no reason to take notice of anything other than checking to see if there was anyone home.
No one was home. (We know from earlier testimony that the kids were with family friends).
The police cruiser captured the back of Karen’s right SUV taillight at this time, which was prior to the vehicle being seized by law enforcement.
Defense had no questions for LT. Rae.
LT. KEVIN O’HARA (MSP Trooper and SERT Leader)
SERT is a secondary search response team for the state of MA.
Officers involved are from all different geographical areas. They commonly search for missing persons, but participate in all kinds of searches.
The team was called for an evidence search at 34 Fairview on 1/29/2022.
8 SERT members were planned to search (including Lt O’Hara), however one couldn’t make it due to the blizzard.
The team did a line search almost shoulder-to-shoulder in unison. Tools brought for the search were headlamps, shovels, rakes, and brooms to sift through the snow.
Tully gave O’Hara a general search area for them to look. The street line from where the front door is directly angled at (where Karen’s vehicle was initially seen by witnesses the night before) to the flag pole area where John was found.
When SERT arrived the snowbanks were about 4-5 feet into the road from the curb due to the plows pushing the snow to the side.
Weather was very cold, but visibility was not bad at this point. Snow was about 15-20 inches.
No other people other than the team entered the marked grid area for the search.
At some point O’Hara acknowledges about 5 officers (not part of the team) at the property outside. He recognized two as MSP, but isn’t sure if the others were CPD or MSP. They did not go near search area.
SERT found John’s missing shoe at the curb area, and located some shards of broken taillight at ground level. Evidence was logged and bagged.
At this point Tully was said they didn’t need to continue, as they got what they could given the snow conditions/ blizzard. Says they will search more later out. O’Hara offers their services again if they need the team to come back on another day.
Defense asks if there was crime scene tape up when O’Hara arrived, and he said no. (We learned from previous testimony this was due to the high blizzard winds). Defense asks if the scene was secured, and O’Hara says no one was there securing it when he arrived, however it was extreme weather and there was no concern. The snow was fresh and untouched.
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Thanks Tuesday. :)