Reporter Grant Smith Ellis released a copy of the Commonwealth’s motion that was briefly referred to at the end of Thursday’s proceedings in the Karen Read murder trial.
Read is on trial for allegedly killing boyfriend John O’Keefe in January of 2022 after backing into him during a snowstorm. The motion was an objection to the defense’s attempt to add last-minute witnesses to the case.
One of the witnesses, Dr. Marie Russell, who the defense wants to testify about bite marks the allege to have been found on the arm of the victim, was not disclosed until two weeks ago, with an actual synopsis of her expertise delivered a week later.
This disclosure was made well after the state’s own expert took a neutral stance on the alleged bite marks, and long after the defense had asserted that they would not be bringing the bite marks up at trial. The prosecution is asking that she not be allowed to testify as it would unfairly bias their case and came after deadlines for inclusion of witnesses.
Also at issue are a number of experts that the defense wants to present but has either failed to disclose opinions and conclusions they will present at trial, or, in the case of four biomechanical engineers that the defense wants to present as crash reconstructionists, hearings would be needed to determine if they are qualified to testify as experts in that field.
These hearings would provide a significant delay to the trial, as the Judge promised jurors on Thursday that they would be starting deliberations on the case at the end of June.
The motion was brought up at the end of Thursday’s hearing. Judge Beverly Cannone wanted take ten minutes to read the motion and then argue it before concluding for the day. The defense objected to it as they had only been provided a copy of the motion at the last minute.
Monday’s proceedings will now start at 8:30AM with a hearing on the motion before the Jury is called into the courtroom at 9:00AM.
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