Judge Beverley Cannone ruled on Thursday that controversial defense witness Dr. Marie Russell would be allowed to testify in the Karen Read murder trial a very limited scope when the defense presents their case next week.
Russell, a self-admitted fangirl for the case, approached a friend to put her in touch with the defense in the case last month. She felt that her experience with dog bites would help their case after reading about it in the Boston Globe.
Alan Jackson reached out to her and provided her with evidence, and she came to the conclusion that injuries on victim John O’Keefe’s arm were caused by a dog, though she couldn’t tell if they were bites or scratch marks.
Russell also did not review an extensive report that was included in the evidence on the bite marks from the dog who has been accused of biting O’Keefe, who attacked someone months after O’Keefe’s murder, nor did she review a report stating that there was no canine DNA found in the wounds.
The prosecution objected as her inclusion came after the trial had been underway and the witness the prosecution had brought on to testify about dog bites had already testified. There were also questions as to what Russell would testify to and what her background is as they were not briefed in advance by the defense as part of the Discovery process.
Judge Cannone ruled that the defense violated rule 14 of Discovery but would allow Russell to testify that she believed the wounds were dog bites and nothing further. It is unclear if she’ll allow the prosecution a rebuttal witness as previously promised.
Also of note, Cannone ruled that Dr. Daniel Wolfe would be allowed to testify to his accident reconstruction report, however Dr. Andrew Renstchler would require another hearing to determine if he would be allowed to testify.
The problem with Renstchler is that he is not a medical doctor, and only medical doctors are allowed to testify in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as to the cause of injuries. That hearing is expected to happen next week.
Update: Russell testified at Friday’s hearing and could not provide conclusive evidence that the marks on John O’Keefe’s arm were caused by being bitten or scratched by a dog. She also had trouble answering prosecution questions and was considered to be a considerable letdown to the defense.
Tip Jar
ReallyCoolNews is a free daily publication devoted to the First Amendment Auditing community. If you’d like to support the publication/help keep the author fed/help support his animals, we offer the following ways to contribute:
Direct Money Gifting:
CashApp: https://cash.me/$reallycoolsite
Paypal: https://paypal.me/ReallyCoolSite?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US
GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/b8144e31
Amazon Registry Gifting:
Paper Needs Registry: https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/2XZ4NUUYNXZH5
Critter Registry: https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/1GACKBD5N136L
Buy Something Neat Registry: https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/2BKN32QZLN1OD
Donations go towards keeping the lights on, feeding critters, improving the site and paying site hosting costs and future upgrades.
Share this:
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)