Karen Read decides not to testify at her retrial
On Tuesday, murder suspect Karen Read announced outside a Massachusetts courthouse that she will not be testifying in her own defense during the retrial concerning the death of her ex-boyfriend John O’Keefe, who was a Boston police officer. (David McGlynn for Fox News Digital)
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According to experts speaking to Fox News Digital, Read’s defense team ended with a strong witness, Dr. Andrew Rentschler, who was brought in to challenge the prosecutorial narrative regarding how John O’Keefe, her police officer boyfriend, died.
Jurors have the day off Thursday and will begin deliberations after receiving instructions from the judge and listening to closing arguments Friday.
Read, aged 45, faces charges for allegedly running over O’Keefe, aged 46, with her 2021 Lexus LX 570 SUV on January 29, 2022, and abandoning him in a blizzard with a fatal skull fracture.
Officer John O’Keefe poses for his official headshot. O’Keefe’s girlfriend, Karen Reed, is currently on trial for murder after he was found dead outside of a Massachusetts home in January 2022. (Boston Police Department)
Welcher drew the opposite conclusion from Rentschler – testifying that in his opinion, Read’s SUV clipped O’Keefe with a glancing blow, knocking him off-balance before he fell and cracked his skull.
“The defense could not have finished the trial any stronger than they did,” Bederow said.
Jack Lu, a retired Massachusetts judge and Boston College law professor, said having Rentschler go last was both a standard strategy and a good one.
Karen Read sits with her attorneys David Yannetti and Robert Alessi as they listen to prosecutor Hank Brennan during her retrial, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Matt Stone/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)
“What stood out is that he was steadfast that Dr. Welcher’s testimony about simulating the contact was fallacious. Counterpoint: so was Rentschler’s,” Lu told Fox News Digital.
He said both are part of a profit-based consulting industry and at points, their testing came across as absurd.
“You have a disembodied arm hitting a Lexus, versus a grease-painted expert getting hit at low speed by a Lexus,” he said.
Cannone gave jurors the day off Thursday so the sides can hold a charging conference. The panel returns Friday for jury instructions and closing arguments.
