Karen Read Retrial, Week 2: A Witness We've All Been Waiting for Testifies, and Boy Oh Boy, She Did Not Disappoint
We're only into Week 2 The Commonwealth v. Karen Read II: The Retrialing, and already we're getting the sorts of high-octane, action-packed set pieces that seemingly took forever in the original film. While first ADA Adam Lally was the sort of director who prefers a slow burn for the tension to build (think Tarantino), calling John O'Keefe's family and friends over the first few days to offer background into his life, new ADA Hank Brennan is dropping us into the middle of the action to draw us in right away (think Spielberg) and asking us to keep up.
Like we discussed the other day, the second week of the retrial kicked off with testimony around competing expert witnesses from both sides. The prosecution's expert testified O'Keefe's phone data proved he never went in the house at 34 Fairview. Until he said it proved no such thing:
... be in the house, correct?
IW: Based on the low accuracy information, Yes.
RA: The answer is yes?
IW: Yes.
While a hearing was conducted without the jury to determine if the defense's accident reconstruction expert, the Crash Daddy, should be allowed to testify. Judge Cannone cited about dozen reasons he shouldn't be allowed to, before allowing him to:
I guess on the logic that she's not going to deny the defense a witness just because they hid the fact they'd paid his firm for his testimony and deleted communications they had with him. Thus taking a potential appellate issue out of their hands, leaving it to Brennan to bring it all up when Crash Daddy is on the stand, and letting the jury decide. Which sounds like a good call by her. Save herself the headache, let everybody else do the heavy lifting, and start dreaming about what she's going to do with that full pension when she takes mando retirement at age 70. Smart.
But all that was just the pre-credits scene before the real star came on screen: Jennifer McCabe. Sister to Nicole Albert and ister-in-law of Brian Albert, the owners of 34 Fairview. The one who was in the car with Karen Read and Kerry Roberts when O'Keefe was found lying in the Albert's front yard at 6am. The Google Queen famous for her "hos long to die in cold?" search. And the breakout star of the first trial. McCabe is perhaps only behind lead investigator Michael Proctor (no longer of the MA State Police) on the list of witnesses the public has been waiting for.
The first thing that no one could've possibly missed is that Jen has been reading her reviews. First, she's had what the ladies call "a glow up" since the last time:
Hair curled in. More makeup. Religious pendant. Ready for her close ups this time around.
Second, her look wasn't the only thing softer in the sequel. She was more soft spoken. Calmer. Better prepared. To the point defense attorney Alan Jackson spent a good 10 minutes asking her a hundred different ways if the Commonwealth had been coaching her up. But she never cracked. If they had, she kept all those coaching points in the locker room.
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But still. A tiger can't change its stripes. A Massholes is gonna Masshole:
And the internet's gonna internet:
Third, for people who are into numerology, this one's for you:
It could just be a coincidence. Pareidolia. Seeing patterns where they don't exist. Like how the Red Sox hadn't won a World Series since 1918 but came back against the Yankees after losing Game 3 19-8 or whatever. Then again, all the 227s here could be totally intentional:
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…die in cold" search. Ian Whiffin testified yesterday that search was made much later in the morning and that the defense's expert Richard Green misinterpreted the data as being the time of the search. It was, in fact, a timestamp associated with tab use. Incredibly dirty trick by a slimy, unethical, and untruthful defense attorney.
Again though, McCabe was composed for the most part. She laid out the narrative the prosecution has been trying to establish for 1.5 trials so far. Karen Read was drunk. Even to the point that some of her testimony about Read's drunkenness shouldn't have been allowed in. And seemingly benefited from Brennan leading the witness. At least according to those in America's fastest-growing field of jurisprudence, YouTube Lawyers:
We also heard that Read was hysterical. That she pointed out to McCabe and Roberts how her right taillight was broken. Kept uttering her signature catchphrase:
"I hit him!"
McCabe also managed to weave all the right human interest elements into her story. She's a mom who loves her family. She has Multiple Sclerosis, as does Read. So O'Keefe thought they'd be good for one another to get to know. There was a repeat of the story we heard a couple of times about a song from legendary One Hit Wonder, The Weather Girls:
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She didn't see O'Keefe lying in the snow because she turned her head to talk while talking about PB&Js, of all things:
I'll have to disagree that this part was a lie. If anyone from Massachusetts was going to make up a story about kids' sandwiches, we'd automatically default to Flutternutters. Which is not only our native food, the sandwich keeps better without the jelly in there to make the bread all mushy and gross. Every mom in the state knows this. But I digress.
We heard how upset she was to find O'Keefe in the snow. Heard the 911 call where she managed to keep it together as she spoke to the dispatcher. Though she did use the phrase "He got out of the car," which could seem to contradict her testimony that she never saw him outside 34 Fairview. But that would really be nitpickery, given that she was in the middle of emergency call while tending to a dying man. I refuse to judge anyone in that situation.
What we can judge Jen McCabe on is how she conducted her business once this investigation went beyond the control of anyone in Canton. Meaning once the Feds who were looking into sketchy practices by law enforcement in Norfolk County came to her door. When the FBI showed up - an agency that presumably doesn't care if Brian Albert is a Boston cop, his brother Kevin is on the Canton force and their brother Chris is a Selectman in town. That's when McCabe couldn't hide her lyin' eyes.
The long and short of it is this: Two federal agents came to her door. She claimed she thought they were selling something, so she lied to them. I'll let Howie Carr describe what transpired:
[T]hey asked her if she was Jennifer McCabe.
“I’m not Jennifer McCabe,” answered Jennifer McCabe.
“I’m Nicole,” said Jennifer. …
Then Jen McCabe said she’d need 10 minutes before she could speak to them. When she returned they asked her if she’d called anyone in those 10 minutes.
She lied again. She told them she’d only called her husband. But she had an excuse for her lying.
“I’d just dropped my kids off to school,” she stammered. “I hadn’t brushed my teeth.”
Her teeth? Surely she meant to say, her tooth. …
Anyone beside Matt and Kerry? the feds asked.
Jackson: “Your answer was no?”
“Correct,” said Jennifer McCabe.
“And that was a lie?”
“It wasn’t a lie, no.”
First of all, aside from the occasional pair of guys in their late 20s wearing golf shirts with the logo of a solar company on the front, what salesmen show up at people's doors any more? Thanks to Ring cameras, door-to-door sales hasn't worked as a business model since The Three Stooges were selling Brighto. And even then, traveling salesmen didn't show up on your porch and identify you by your full name.
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So McCabe cut the interview with the FBI guys short. Which is new information:
They left a business card and suggested she contact them if there's anything further she wants to discuss. Then her husband Matthew came home. And after consulting with him, she called the Feds back to say something to the effect of, "You know those two people I said I called? About that. It was more like a whole slew of people." She's apparently counted her phone calls like you do your beers when a cop pulls you over. "I just had a couple …" When in fact she had been two-fisting her contacts list:
To me, and I'm not alone on this by any means, the big name on this list is Brian Albert. It should be lost on no one that when John O'Keefe was still considered missing, and McCabe was running around with Read and Roberts presumably trying to find him, she never contacted Albert or his wife Nicole, who as a reminder is Jen's sister. O'Keefe's last known whereabouts as the Albert's house, but their phones didn't ring. It was only when the FBI showed up at McCabe's door that she hit that button with the handset and the word "call" underneath Brian's contact info.
But the fact she called the DA's office stinks to high heaven too. Why would that be anyone's reaction to questioning from federal LEOs if you're only a witness in a criminal investigation that is completely on the level? And why lie about it? Again from Howie Carr:
“But,” said Jackson, “you said you hadn’t talked to any of the others.”
“At that moment I did say no, yes.”
That’s an exact quote – “I did say no, yes.”
Jackson: “That would be, by definition, a lie?”
“No!”
“You explained to them that you had been untruthful?”
“I explained to that I had forgotten a couple of people I had reached out to.”
Just miscounted. With her math off by only like 250%.
Then we factor in this little tidbit:
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So the Alberts weren't involved when a police officer lay dying in their front yard. They weren't someone to contact as McCabe, Read and Roberts were driving around in a blizzard frantically worried about him. But when the lead investigator and FBI agents are around, Brian Albert is essential personnel. Got it.
This has gone long and I need to end it. So I'll put this exclamation point on it. Jen McCabe testified it was she who went into 34 Fairview to let the homeowners know a police officer died in their front yard. She was able to let herself in. Supposedly woke them from a sound sleep. Somehow didn't upset their 70 pound German Shepherd. And came in quietly because, in her words, "I didn’t want them to be panicked and think something terrible had happened."
Spoiler: Something terrible had happened.
Court is not in session today for some unexplained reason. Friday is going to be electric. Stay tuned.