On Tuesday, Judge Beverly Cannone dismissed a motion aimed at preventing key defense experts from testifying on behalf of Karen Read, who is retried on murder charges connected to the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe.
Despite numerous unaccounted text messages between experts from the ARCCA crash reconstruction firm and the defense team, along with missed discovery deadlines, Cannone acknowledged the prosecution’s concerns but ultimately ruled in favor of allowing the experts to testify.
“I fully grasp the commonwealth’s argument and the surprise it brings,” she stated. “Nonetheless, the defendant’s right to a fair trial outweighs all else. Hence, the ARCCA witnesses will be permitted to testify, and I anticipate a vigorous cross-examination.”
It has been one week since opening statements began, yet the experts’ report won’t be completed until May 7, which is more than two weeks post-trial start. Special prosecutor Hank Brennan deemed this unfair to the state, but Cannone rejected his request to stop the experts from testifying.
KAREN READ CRASH EXPERT ACKNOWLEDGES SENDING NOTES TO DEFENSE, VIOLATING SEQUESTRATION ORDER IN FIRST TRIAL
Karen Read listens to witness statements during her murder retrial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., on April 29, 2025. (Libby O’Neill/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)
The ARCCA experts are set to support the defense’s assertion that Read’s SUV did not hit O’Keefe.
Read faces charges of murder, manslaughter, and fleeing the scene, accused of hitting him with her Lexus and leaving him to die in a snowstorm. She has pleaded not guilty.
Her initial trial concluded with a hung jury last year.
Karen Read and John O’Keefe (Karen Read)
Earlier that day, Jennifer McCabe, a friend of O’Keefe who was with him the night before his death and accompanied Read when she found him in the snow at 6 a.m. during a nor’easter, testified about her friendship with O’Keefe and the events leading up to his death. She is scheduled to return to the stand on Wednesday.
Continuing testimony also featured Ian Whiffin, a digital forensics expert who investigated the phones of both O’Keefe and McCabe.
Whiffin testified under cross-examination by defense attorney Robert Alessi that based on location data, O’Keefe may have been at 34 Fairview Road early on January 29, 2022.
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Ian Whiffin, a digital intelligence specialist from Cellebrite, testifies under cross-examination during Karen Read’s murder retrial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., on April 29, 2025. (Libby O’Neill/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)
Taking various factors into account, including health data from Apple, phone battery temperature, and a feature related to Face ID called “Doppler,” Whiffin opined that O’Keefe was at a standstill near the flagpole on the front lawn between approximately 12:30 a.m. and 6 a.m.
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In a significant exchange, Alessi questioned Whiffin regarding a graphic in his report about location data that hadn’t been presented to jurors during the prosecution’s timeline discussion on Monday.
A radius of possible locations indicated that O’Keefe’s phone could have been within the house at 34 Fairview Road at the time of his death.
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Defense attorney Robert Alessi cross-examines Ian Whiffin, a digital intelligence expert from Cellebrite, during Karen Read’s murder retrial on April 29, 2025. (Libby O’Neill/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)
“So, in the following hours, according to your analysis, O’Keefe’s phone could have been in the house, correct?” Alessi inquired.
“According to the low accuracy information, yes,” Whiffin responded.
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Whiffin added that this broader context enabled him to refine his conclusions.
Alessi also contested tests Whiffin performed involving placing a phone in a freezer and outside in the cold in December, which displayed more drastic temperature drops than those recorded on O’Keefe’s phone on January 29, 2022. However, Brennan highlighted that O’Keefe’s body was likely atop the phone during its exposure to the cold.
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan questions Ian Whiffin, a digital intelligence expert from Cellebrite, on April 28, 2025. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Whiffin also revealed that McCabe’s search for the term “hos (sic) long to die in cold,” occurred at 6:23 a.m. – after O’Keefe had already been found – rather than at 2:27 a.m., as the defense contended.
He provided a courtroom demonstration illustrating how a phone’s database files could produce incorrect timestamps with respect to a Google search.
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Whiffin confirmed that the 2:27 timestamp corresponds to the moment McCabe opened a new tab in her phone’s browser, yet no search happened then; the actual search occurred hours later in the same tab, reinforcing the prosecution’s timeline.
The trial is anticipated to last six to eight weeks. Tuesday marked the first complete week following the opening statements that began on April 22.
Whiffin stood by his findings regarding the timestamps and the updates in Cellebrite software, asserting that if he were incorrect, other forensic scientists would have identified flaws and made them public.
He also referenced a similar situation from a European case involving the same browser tab timestamp issue, which was resolved in a comparable manner.
