Karen Read’s legal team has chosen not to put her on the witness stand, a risky move that could either benefit or harm her case, especially after the prosecution presented incriminating interview clips from her second murder trial. These clips allow the jury to hear Read’s perspective in her own words.

Read faces a possible life sentence for allegedly murdering her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe. The prosecution alleges that Read, during a drunken argument, hit O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV and left him to die of exposure in the front yard of a friend’s house party shortly after midnight on January 29, 2022.

Read’s defense team insists her vehicle never made contact with O’Keefe and there was no collision. 

“When I first started practicing, the advice was ‘never put your client on the stand, ever,’” said New York City defense attorney Louis Gelormino to Fox News Digital. “However, I sometimes disagree with that. I believe we’ve achieved our biggest victories when our client does testify.”

Lu said the defense has not attempted to address the video clips or provide context regarding Read’s version of events at this point in the trial. 

“So, the same trial plus the damaging video, where the jury almost convicted, is bad for the defense,” Lu said. 

As the defense continues calling witnesses, the notable absence of Read’s own testimony will likely only be fully felt once the jury reads its verdict, with the prosecution acting as the only side that opted to include her own words in the courtroom.  

“Based on the fact that they had a hung jury the last time, [the defense has] a decent case,” Gelormino told Fox News Digital. “So do you want to mess that up with having her defend her actions and character for the next two or three days on the stand? That’s a tough decision.”