Karen Read trial canceled minutes before court set to resume
Karen Read pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the death of Boston police officer John O’Keefe and is facing a retrial after a jury was unable to reach a verdict last year.
Coverage for this event has ended.
Karen Read’s trial was canceled Tuesday, minutes before testimony was set to resume.
Details regarding the cancellation were not immediately available.
Under questioning by defense attorney Alan Jackson, Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik, of the Massachusetts State Police, defines lividity for the jury, when he returns to the witness stand in the murder retrial of Karen Read in Norfolk Superior Court, Monday, May 12, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe's 2022 death could have been the result of a violent love triangle involving an ATF agent and his girlfriend, suspected killer Karen Read, who began texting each other just weeks before he was last seen alive, her defense posited on Monday inside a courtroom in Dedham, Massachusetts.
"You were just asked about your opinion whether or not there was a motive that you found for Brian Higgins to want to murder John O'Keefe," defense attorney Alan Jackson asked Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik of the Massachusetts State Police . "I'm asking you a different question. Did you, in your mind, in your opinion, after having read those texts, find a motive for Brian Higgins, perhaps want to confront John O'Keefe because of jealousy?"
"If you're asking for my opinion, my opinion is that he wouldn't need to confront Mr. O'Keefe," Bukhenik said. "Mr. O'Keefe was not the one pursuing Mr. Higgins. It was your client that was pursuing Mr. Higgins."
On Friday, Jackson had Bukhenik read through a lengthy string of texts between Read and Higgins exchanged in the weeks before O'Keefe's death, where they flirted, invited one another over, discussed a kiss outside O'Keefe's house and frequently brought up heavy drinking.
"After weeks of communicating with Miss Read in a romantic manner, and then … seeing her walk in the door with John O'Keefe and sending the text message, ‘Umm. Well,’ after having been intoxicated, do you see that, detective, as an investigator, as a reasonable, objective investigator, as a possible scenario for Brian Higgins to be jealous about John O'Keefe?"
"There's a possibility there, but I didn't see it," Bukhenik said.
"Did you explore that possibility?" Jackson said.
Bukhenik testified that he did not but said he relied on the "totality of the investigation," which led to charges against Read.
Read the full story here.
With her defense attorneys Alan Jackson, left, and David Yannetti, Karen Read returns to the defense table during her murder retrial of Karen Read in Norfolk Superior Court, Monday, May 12, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Karen Read’s trial is resuming Tuesday as the Commonwealth is expected to call additional witnesses.
Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik left the witness stand on Monday following three days of testimony regarding his investigation into the death of Boston police officer John O’Keefe.
Read is facing murder charges and the possibility of life in prison for allegedly ramming O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV in a drunken argument on Jan. 29, 2022. Read’s defense team claims she is being framed in an elaborate coverup that involved Bukhenik’s former partner, Michael Proctor, losing his job after the investigation
Live Coverage begins here