Karen Read's second murder trial continued Tuesday with testimony from a defense expert who says John O’Keefe likely smashed his skull during a fall backward, but did not die from hypothermia as a medical examiner previously suggested.
After retaking the stand, Elizabeth Laposata, a forensic pathologist and former medical examiner, told jurors she believes O'Keefe fell unconscious immediately after hitting his head on a ridged object and was bitten and scratched by an animal, based on an analysis of his injuries.
Her testimony is pivotal to Read's defense and directly counters testimony from prosecution witnesses.
Prosecutors allege the 45-year-old Massachusetts woman backed into O’Keefe, her Boston police officer boyfriend, with her Lexus SUV in a fit of jealousy after a night of drinking and then left him to die in the snow outside the home of another cop.
But her defense has long maintained that Read was framed for the crime by people inside the house, who they say beat O’Keefe, let a dog attack him and then dropped his body on the front lawn. They’ve argued that police purposefully bungled the investigation into O’Keefe’s death.
