DAY 8: Karen Read Retrial
“I was looking to find him on the side of the road. I was expecting to find him.” -Karen Read (interview clip shown today in trial)
After two weeks of testimonies, sliding into the weekend feels a bit like this…
BUT, we made it, guys.
If you need me this weekend, I’ll be on the couch watching mindless television and eating ice cream from the carton.
BUT… enough about me.
Here’s your daily recap.
Witnesses who testified today:
Jen McCabe (John’s friend)
Hannah Knowles (Forensic Scientist)
JEN McCABE - Third, and final day on the stand.
CROSS-EXAMINATION continues…
Defense Attorney Jackson questions Jen regarding a statement she made at a hearing in 2023. Jackson points out that she had said the last time she saw Karen’s vehicle out front of the property was 12:45 am because that was the last time she texted John.
Jen responds that she doesn’t know the exact times she looked out a window. She said her testimony was that she *thinks* it was 12:45 AM.
Jackson has her read the transcript:
“…my husband and I were talking just like about what they were doing. And then I sat back down, and at one point, I think I said, hello. And then I said, at 12:42, where are you? And then flip. I don't know if that's my last text or if I did one more. Yeah, 1245. Hello. Because they were still there.”
Jen says there is more following that statement in the transcript, but Jackson cuts her off, and asks her to confirm this statement only. She agrees.
Calls & Group Chat Texts
The early morning of 1/29/22, Karen had Kayley (John’s niece) call Jen about John being *missing*. Jen made some calls right afterward. She had told the Grand Jury that she called:
Julie Albert, who she was with the night before.
Tom Beatty, a friend of John’s.
Jackson points out that Jen never mentioned a 38 second call she made to her sister, Nicole Albert. Jen says if she called Nicole, she didn’t answer. Jen says they never spoke until after John was found that morning.
“There’s nothing about me calling my sister that’s nefarious.”
Jackson introduces text messages from several different conversations that occurred the day John passed, and other texts days after.
One conversation was between Jen and her sister, Nicole, on 1/29/22.
Jen texted: Kerry talked to cops and kept simple. (7:54 pm)
Nicole: OK! Try and get some sleep. Talk tomorrow!! (7:56 pm)
Jen: Any update? (7:57 pm)
Nicole: We’ll get more info tomorrow. Don’t want to text about it. (8:01 pm)
(This text exchange is revisited on redirect where Prosecutor Brennan allows Jen to give more context to it. Kerry started drinking wine that night after the long, traumatic day, and so when officers sought to talk with her later that day, she kept it short and brief. They would follow up.)
Jackson brings up a group chat between Jen, Nicole Albert, Brian Albert, and Jen’s husband, Matt. He pulls some texts from that thread and shows them.
Here’s an audio clip of Jen reading them aloud for the court.
Officer Lank’s House
The day after John passed away, Kerry and Jen swung by Officer Lank’s house to drop his daughter off.
Lank’s wife came outside and chatted with the women for about 45 minutes. Jen has a vague memory of running into their house to use the bathroom.
Jen’s location data shows that Jen and Kerry also drove by 34 Fairview and parked out front for about 43 min. Jen says they drove by to look at the area. They stayed in the car and just talked. Jen says they never went inside the home.
Investigator Proctor
Jen McCabe spoke with Investigator Proctor for the first time the day John passed away (Jan. 29th) for an interview at her home. In February and March, Proctor and Jen had periodic calls with one another.
Following the summer, they began speaking again periodically.
(Not mentioned in this trial, but last trial, this is the line of questioning that opened the door of the witness intimidation to be shared by Jen. Jen and Proctor’s wife bonded in 2023 due to the public harassment on their families. Jackson carefully avoided opening the door again for this trial.)
Jackson says Officer Tully interviewed Jen in 2023, and in the summary report it said that Jen hadn’t met Proctor or his wife, Courtney, before September 2023.
Jen says that’s incorrect. She hadn’t met Courtney Proctor before September 2023, but she did meet Investigative Proctor for an interview the day John passed away.
The Butt Dial Calls
Intermingled in the timeline of Jen texting John on the night of 1/28/22, there are unanswered calls from Jen to John as well. Jen doesn’t recall attempting to call him, and believes they may have been inadvertent calls when her phone was in her back pocket.
(Personal opinion- I don’t understand the point of the defense trying to make this look nefarious. It’s clear by the texts, John was not in the house with her. This actually contradicts the defense’s claims. The phone calls suggest the same thing, so Jen not remembering calls ((whether they were made intentionally or not)) would be a pointless thing to lie about if she was trying to frame Karen for a crime.)
Jackson asks her about the process of how a butt dial occurs. He asserts it would require changing apps, Face ID to unlock.
Jackson: “You can't call somebody from the texting app, right?”
Jen: “I'm not sure. I don't know what to tell you.”
(Jackson is wrong here. I’m sure at least one juror has an iPhone and can see that there’s a direct way to call from an open text screen.)
The Google Search
Jackson presses Jen on the Cellebrite extraction report that shows what appears to be a 2:27 google search for ‘hos long to die in cold’. Jen says she only googled about her daughter’s basketball.
Jackson points out that Jen is the only one who can vouch that Karen asked her to google hypothermia. Jen says, yes. It was just them two together at that moment.
(I can’t help but wonder how the jury viewed Jackson aggressively pushing 2:27 am as the time Jen searched hypothermia given that Cellebrite’s own forensic expert testified right before Jen that it is not the time the search happened. )
Not waking Brian Albert up
Jackson asks why Jen didn’t run into the Albert house and wake up Brian Albert immediately after finding John in the snow. Jen says she called 911, Kerry started CPR (she’s CPR certified), and when she got off the call, Kerry had Jen come over and help with compressions. EMS showed up within minutes. Running to grab Brian would have taken time away from helping John.
Jackson asks why Jen referred to John as a “man in the snow” in the 911 call. She says she was trying to get the most important details out first, and that she did actually say John’s name later in the 911 call.
Jackson asks why Jen didn’t tell 911 that John was a Boston Police Officer.
Jackson: “Do you think that might have sped things up if they knew… if the 911 operator knew that this was a fallen officer, a fellow officer?”
Jen: “I think 911 comes to everyone equally. I don't think they would have.”
REDIRECT:
Prosecutor Brennan points out that the defense, in an attempt to pick and choose text messages to insinuate their was some sort of “collusion”, the defense didn’t show the text conversations that display the early moments of trauma and pain between people who experienced a tragedy.
VIDEO CLIPS PLAYED in court.
Karen says: “…I was looking to find him on the side of the road. I was expecting to find him.”
HANNAH KNOWLES (Forensic Scientist for MSP crime lab):
Karen’s blood was drawn at about 9 am the morning John died. Her blood alcohol alcohol was 93 milligrams per deciliter.
This equates to her blood alcohol content being between 0.078 and 0.092 at the time it was drawn.
.08 is considered legally intoxicated.
There’s a science to retrograde-analyzing how much more intoxicated she was at about 12:45 am.
It was determined that Karen was driving with the BAC of between .14 and .28
That’s it for the day!
Enjoy your weekend friends, and I’ll see you on Monday.