Karen Read’s lawyers spoke out very forcefully, legal expert says

Crime

Opening statements and testimony began this week in the high-profile Read murder case.

Karen Read is now two days into her sensational murder trial, and a veteran criminal defense lawyer believes the Mansfield woman’s lawyers have come out strong.

“I thought the defense was very strong,” Janice Bassil told Boston.com in a brief interview Wednesday. “I think they set it up as much as they could.”

In general, she said, prosecutors tend to have an easier time with opening statements since they can rely on the timeline of the case as a foundation.

“They can say, ‘Well, we have this evidence and then you’re going to hear this and then you’re going to hear that,'” Bassil said. Nonetheless, she said Read’s lawyers “had a pretty convincing defense opening, I think.”

Read, 44, is accused of hitting her boyfriend — Boston police officer John O’Keefe — with his SUV while dropping him off at another Boston officer’s home in Canton after a night out. of drinking.

While prosecutors say Read left O’Keefe to die in a snowstorm on Jan. 29, 2022, defense attorneys say Read has been accused of a widespread cover-up. They suggested that O’Keefe was actually beaten inside the home and possibly attacked by the family’s German shepherd.

Looking ahead, “I think the medical examiner will be very critical about the bodily injuries and whether they are consistent with a car accident or a beating,” Bassil said.

In court Tuesday, defense attorney Alan Jackson cross-examined a Canton firefighter who treated O’Keefe at the scene, asking whether O’Keefe’s injuries were consistent with a physical altercation. Defense attorneys also hammered several first responders over discrepancies between their initial incident reports, grand jury testimony and what they said in court this week.

Although she hasn’t listened to the testimony in Read’s case, Bassil noted that cross-examination strategies generally depend on the witness.

“So a civilian witness who is maybe very anxious about being in court, who is afraid of saying the wrong thing or whatever, you usually want to walk maybe a little bit more slowly or at least work your way out,” she said. “A police officer who may have testified more than once and is inconsistent in what he says – no, I would cross-examine him quite vigorously, and I did.”

Another factor, she added, is “if you feel like the witness is deliberately not responding or being coy about their answers, because you sometimes get that from witnesses when they know what that you ask and they’re deliberately sort of, I don’t know if it’s a misinterpretation, but they go out of their way to make sure that they don’t give you the answer that they think you want.

Bassil also gave a general overview of how defense attorneys may seek to present their clients in court, from their attire to their mannerisms.

“You don’t want customers to grimace or make faces,” she said. “The judge can reprimand them for that, and you certainly don’t want that.” You want customers to look interested in what’s going on and not look bored or angry, that sort of thing.

She said she usually gives her clients a pad of paper and asks them to take notes if something seems strange or incorrect.

“I mean, one of the things that’s really difficult as a defense attorney is that your client wants to tell you things, and you’re listening – listening really hard – and you can’t get distracted by that,” Bassil said.

Read’s case has generated widespread media attention and public interest amid a passionate “Free Karen Read” movement that has seen protesters gather near Norfolk Superior Court during hearings and trial dates .

A veteran attorney who has tried a number of high-profile cases, Bassil recalled a similar level of public interest and media presence when she represented John Salvi III, who committed fatal shootings at abortion clinics in Brookline in 1994. However, the number of protesters is somewhat unusual for a criminal trial in Greater Boston, she said.

“And it’s a different time too, you know?” Bassil said. “You’re in the age of like texts and Twitter and Instagram and all kinds of instant feeds, and I think that also changes the way people perceive things and piques their interest, basically.”