Jennifer McCabe will retake the stand Wednesday morning in the Karen Read murder trial after she faced an intense, four-hour round of questioning from the defense on Tuesday.
Murderous romance or frame job? Things to know so far as Karen Read trial enters 4th week
Jennifer McCabe’s sister owned the Fairview Road home in Canton that John O’Keefe’s body was found outside of in January 2022. And she was inside when prosecutors allege Read struck O’Keefe with her SUV.
PLAY-BY-PLAY FROM DAY 16 OF TESTIMONY:
9:30 a.m.
- McCabe testified she went to the home of MSP investigator Michael Proctor in September 2023.
- She says she went there to see his wife and says “Michael Proctor wasn’t home”.
- She says they met to talk about the “Vicious harassment”
- JM: “I’m a state witness who’s being tortured because of lives” “It’s a social media witch-hunt”
9:25 a.m.
- AJ says JM called Lt. Lank at 9 a.m. on 1/29/22 (morning body found) to tell him something important.
- Yesterday JM testified that KR said ‘I hit him (3x) AJ refers to Lank’s notes of conversation
- AJ: “What you said is that I hope my client ‘didn’t hit him’, correct?
- JM: No
9:20 a.m.
- Alan Jackson (AJ) begins by asking Jennifer McCabe (JM) to review records from a “group chat”.
- The judge allows the document in.
8:50 a.m.
- Jen McCabe is expected to be back on the stand this morning in the Karen Read murder trial. The defense will continue to cross-examine her.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Jen McCabe is the prosecution’s witness that googled “how long to die in cold.”
The defense has long suggested she’s part of a cover-up.
She testified to helping Karen Read find John O’Keefe in the snow and said Read implicated herself in O’Keefe’s death. She also testified, “I’m not sure if it’s in this document but I can tell you today with 100 percent clarity, she said I hit him, I hit him. I hit him.”
Defense attorney Alan Jackson said McCabe never testified to that at the Grand Jury in April 2022.
“It’s probably the most powerful part of your testimony, ma’am,” said Jackson.
McCabe responded, “And I will never forget it.”
“Ms. McCabe, the truth of this matter is that you manufactured this new story for this jury because you think it helps you out,” Jackson said.
“Absolutely, not,” McCabe answered.
Jackson also accused McCabe of plotting with family and friends before police interviews.
McCabe addressed a text she sent to a friend when police interviewed them at their home.
Jackson said, “The very next text is from you telling the group ‘She’s telling him everything!!’”
“Yes,” answered McCabe. She continued, “We never worked together to come up with a story, we have the facts and the everything was a comment about your client.”
DAY 15 OF TESTIMONY:
Like others, McCabe said she saw Read’s Lexus pull up to 34 Fairview Road – and later move to the area where O’Keefe’s body would later be found.
But McCabe said she never saw a body.
Calls from McCabe’s cell phone were also a point of contention.
Jackson said records show she made several that were deleted from her phone.
“You do know that your phone was forensically analyzed and those calls were in the deleted file folder,” Jackson asked.
McCabe answered, “I have seen that but there were 20 calls all in the group that were all deleted so cherry-picking a few makes it look a different way.” She continued, “I never deleted any calls when I willingly handed my phone over.”
Jackson said McCabe deleted 6 calls she had made to John O’Keefe’s phone.
McCabe previously testified that those could have been butt dials.
Read, 44, of Mansfield, has been charged with second-degree murder, among other charges, in the death of O’Keefe, her boyfriend.
The defense’s theory is that O’Keefe was actually beaten up inside the Albert home and dragged outside in a snowstorm and that the Albert family is at the center of an effort to frame Read.
Prosecutors claim Read drunkenly struck O’Keefe with her luxury Lexus SUV while making a three-point after dropping him off at the home. They allege she fled the scene and left him to die.
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