Karen Read’s legal team is nearing the end of the case for her defense with crash reconstruction expert Dr. Daniel Wolfe called to the stand Friday.

Dr. Wolfe presented video evidence to the jury, featuring several simulations of a collision involving a 2021 Lexus LX 570 SUV and a crash dummy. This was to replicate the purported impact of Read’s vehicle, which is of the same make and model, on her ex-boyfriend, John O’Keefe. She is accused of killing him in an alleged drunk driving accident and fleeing the scene.

In each simulation, at speeds ranging from 10 to 29 mph, the damage to the vehicle’s taillight was “inconsistent” with that damage police recorded on Read’s actual taillight.

Karen Read attends her murder trial in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Libby O’Neill/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)

Special prosecutor Hank Brennan unsuccessfully tried to have Wolfe and a colleague, Dr. Andrew Renstchler, blocked from testifying before the start of the trial.

Wolfe testified during the first trial, which ended with a deadlocked jury, that damage to Read’s SUV is inconsistent with a collision involving O’Keefe.

Read told reporters outside court Wednesday that her defense could rest as soon as next Tuesday. There was no court on Thursday.

She could face up to life in prison if convicted. Her first trial, in which the defense claimed she had been framed, ended with a deadlocked jury last year.