The Great Google Search Debate Continues.
Tuesday Briefing: Karen Read’s tech expert insists ‘his opinion’ is correct, despite Cellebrite’s software showing his claims are dead.
Remember Weekend at Bernies?🍿
The 80’s movie where two guys desperately try to make a dead man named Bernie appear alive and thriving?
Well guys —
I think we’re seeing a modern day sequel play out in front of our eyes as Karen Read’s defense team continues to argue that a “hos long to die in cold” google search occurred at 2:27 am.
Last Tuesday…
Karen’s team filed an opposition to the state’s motion seeking a Daubert Hearing for tech expert, Richard Green. The Commonwealth asserts Green is pushing “debunked” opinions regarding the 2:27 timestamp, and the defense refutes this claim.
Along with that filing came Richard Green’s new affidavit reaffirming his belief that Jen McCabe googled the “Hos long…” search at 2:27 am on the morning of the crime.
As we know —
The Senior Digital Forensic Expert, Ian Whiffin, of Cellebrite (the industry-leading digital intelligence platform for digital forensic investigations) testified and wrote a full data report showing that Mr. Green is misinterpreting the company’s parsed data report.
On top of that —
Professor and former Forensic Director (Jessica Hyde) for Magnet Forensics (Axiom software company and competitor of Cellebrite) testified to the same conclusion as Ian Whiffin.
(Here’s a screenshot from trial below regarding the KnowledgeC.db info pulled from the extraction report. Note: There are multiple elements to analyzing this debate, and this was one part of the puzzle. Look at what website actually appears at 2:27:40 in this database.)



AND yet…
Richard Green stands firm-ish in his claims.
Let’s just say that his affidavits keep evolving as he tries to hold up an argument that the defense team desperately needs for their conspiracy narrative.
He once surmised that Jen manually deleted many things, but now, he claims she manually deleted only the 2:27 search. It’s pretty apparent in his affidavit that he is mixing and matching information from different forensic tools to confirm his opinion, while simultaneously ignoring what doesn’t fit his conclusion from those exact same tools.
In his most recent affidavit —
Green contradicts what Magnet Forensics (Axiom software) has written on their very own website while claiming that Axiom software has confirmed his findings.
BUT alas —
Richard Green keeps his opinion that Jen McCabe made the “hos long to die in cold” search at 2:27 am…
And the defense will once again try and make that dead fish swim in court.
🚩 Red Flags ALL over the Place:
Instead of reaching out to Jessica Hyde or other higher-ups for a thorough analysis discussion, Richard Green called the company’s customer call center to chat. He does not specify what the full content of that conversation was, but he writes that they affirm his own conclusions.
Richard Green never wrote a report for the first trial, and as I type this, has still chosen not to write a data report for this upcoming 2nd trial. A report would require him to show the detailed steps that back up his opinion.
Richard Green has taken more online certification classes since the last trial, but has still chosen not to get the Cellebrite certification offered by the company.
He continues to not have his opinion peer-reviewed by people more qualified with the company programs than he is.
AND maybe even more concerning…
Richard Green was charged with making a false police report back in 2016. He accused someone of doing something they never did. The fact that he was okay falsely throwing a person under the legal bus for his own gain, puts his credibility into question regarding what his ethical boundaries are.
What to expect going forward:
Judge Cannone held a hearing last Friday regarding whether the court should hold a Daubert hearing for Richard Green. She decided that the 2:27 timestamp argument between the defense and prosecution can be debated out in the upcoming trial in front of the jury. No Daubert Hearing needed.
Several other motions were filed this past week, so I will try and get to those in the next update. The next hearing is set for this upcoming Thursday.