Those of us who sat through the interminable first trial of Karen Read had some tempered hope when an outsider, defense attorney Hank Brennan, was brought into for this retrial. That this newly appointed special ADA would look through the evidence and ask Michael Morrissey WTF he was thinking when he brought charges against Karen. Or, at minimum, recognize the overreach of the second degree murder charge. These hopes were dashed when Brennan switched from wanting a fair trial for Karen to wanting one for the Commonwealth of MA (CW).* He seemed determined to dig deeply into the federal investigation of the investigation of the death of Officer John O'Keefe but not in the direction that those of us on the FKR side hoped he would. He completely ignored the exculpatory information provided by the feds in a 3000+ page Touhey report. Instead it seems he did his level best to figure out what the government had on the Norfolk County DA's Office (NCDAO). When he failed at that, he attempted to discredit the defense in as dirty a way as possible: Make it look like they were colluding with the FBI or, at the very least, their experts from ARCCA who opined that John was not hit by Karen's car and Karen's car was not damaged by hitting John.

Did I mention that Hank Brennan was on the team that unsuccessfully defended James "Whitey" Bulger, infamous Irish mob boss and murderer? And that he cried at his funeral? I personally did not know this when he was first appointed but it makes sense now. Who better to defend the NCDAO than a mob lawyer? That's how those in the know were describing him from the beginning. I though that nobody could be worse than DA Michael Morrissey and his corrupt crew: ADA Adam Lally & ADA Laura McLaughlin. Boy was I wrong! Lally mumble fumbled his way through the first trial, using "what if any" so many times I wanted to smack my head into my keyboard. Droning on about the snow and high top tables and shoveling aprons until I thought my ears were gonna bleed. Then along came Hank Brennan and his incessant whining. Suddenly, I missed Lally, which I didn't think would ever be possible. Speaking of, has anybody else noticed that Lally turned into a real prosecutor under Hank's tutelage? Suddenly he's loud, clear and concise with his questioning although he's been relegated to the most minor and most boring of witnesses. 

Brennan has been running this trial like a defense attorney trying to trip up witnesses during cross examination. In other words, his presentation does not seem to be linear (what follows is not necessarily in order): EMS first responders, Kerry Roberts, more EMS first responders, Sara Levinson (who was inside 24 Fairview that night), Ian Wiffen & Jessica Hyde (the CW's two cell phone experts), Jennifer McCabe, retired Canton police dept. Sgt. Paul Gallagher (who arrived after John O'Keefe was transported to the hospital), Yuri Bukhenik (lead investigator Michael Proctor's supervisor and partner). Oh, and the two passangers of the vehicle that arrived and left 34 Fairview during the time Karen Read was outside in her Lexus waiting to hear from John O'Keefe (but not the driver for whatever reason). MST Nicholas Guarino also took the stand a few times to enter John's & Karen's cell phone evidence. Notably absent were any police officers that first responded to the scene, the lead investigator and the medical examiner, all of which are generally standard witnesses in a criminal case.

Jen McCabe, an early witness in this retrial, received a glow up from the last trial. She mostly remained cool, calm and collected during her 3 days of testimony. She and most of the EMS personnel that testified earnestly stated that their memories have gotten better over time. You would think that people even tangentially involved in law enforcement would know that this is patently untrue. However, I guess it's as true as Trooper Paul's grasp on physics in his "accident reconstruction" for the last trial that had poor officer John O'Keefe bouncing off of his head and pirouetting onto the lawn of 34 Fairview on that fateful morning. Hopefully their new expert, Dr. Welcher of Aperture, has a more cogent argument.

A bunch of physical evidence has been presented but there doesn't seem to be any logs attesting to their provenance. Plainly said, there doesn't seem to be  any chain of custody on anything. The scene at 34 Fairview was left unsupervised from before 8 am until after 4 pm that day. John's clothing was discovered on the hospital floor (which makes sense), loaded into a paper lawn & leaf size bag by Bukhenik and Proctor, rode around in their car most of the day, then laid out on butcher paper at the NCDAO. It was logged into evidence six weeks later and two pieces were ensconced in plexiglass between the first and second trial. John's shoes, one of which was found at the hospital with the other found on the lawn of 34 Fairview, both seemed to end up in property bags identifying the latter location. A recess was called to address the problem then, magically, the second shoe was pulled out of a bag that said it was from the hospital. It also seems that Proctor just filled out evidence bags with either his or Bukhenik's names as he saw fit. There were no crime scene services (CSS) photos of the 47 pieces of tail light that "revealed themselves" over a good 3 weeks. A bunch had no pics at all. There was no sketch made of what was found where at the crime scene. It was never even established exactly where John O'Keefe was found, much less orientation or any kind of measurements. 

This case is an absolute clusterfuck and, so far, the prosecution has not proven a damn thing, IMO. We're over 3 weeks in and the jury has not heard what John's actual cause of death was determined to be. In this way, Brennan's bunny hop approach resembles Lally's slogfest in trial 1. Emily D. Baker has some excellent daily briefs if you want to follow along.

Remember: The truth does not change. Data doesn't lie, people do! FREE KAREN READ

*The US constitution only guarantees a fair trial for those accused of crimes not for the bodies accusing them.

I write not to just inform people but also to express my frustration, fear, even anger. I'm generally not an angry person but my capacity to endure foolish behavior is at almost nil. I'm old, I don't have time for that shit. 

Recently I spent the day watching Dean Schneider and his Hakuna Mipaka lion pride down in South Africa. His interactions with them touches my soul. The vlogs of the building of Brian Barczyk's LegaSea Aquarium and Reptarium are a never miss for me. I also enjoy Rocky Kanuka of "sitting with dogs" fame who is in dog rescue in California. I find animal rescue, preservation and conservation uplifting. And people who follow true crime absolutely need to take time out for anything that feeds their soul because, for the most part, true crime is not that.

The next day I come back to X and the first two stories are about incidences where children were killed. Then I see that infighting amongst Karen Read supporters (AKA Free Karen Read or FKR) is ongoing and seems to be escalating. The former are as heartbreaking as the latter is infuriating but both are why I need to take more frequent breaks. The "old guard" (OG) of FKR seems to be taking pot shots at newer creators. Ironically, I just released my first video after a 1 1/2 year hiatus which happens to be about Karen Read. So guess which category I fall into? I'm no "Video Jesus," not even close - my videos are amateur at best but I do like to dip into editing more than recording. It fulfills a creative need in me that I had to temporarily abandon while dealing with a new puppy. I got my first prolonged break from that duty this past weekend and I jumped at the chance.

I prioritize protecting my peace so I approach X very cautiously, only reading those I follow and have notifications turned on for. The first step I take in disengagement is to turn off those notifications. Next would be unfollowing then, if necessary, muting. I'm sure my mute list is formidable because I also mute those I've never followed. Blocking is the last step and I pretty much only block those that block me first. 

As I stated in the beginning: I'm old and don't have time for this shit. These days I rarely indulge in X spats. I'm more apt to take a few passive/aggressive swipes from afar. While I enjoy having followers/viewers my self-worth is not tied to them. My blog articles and sometimes subsequent videos are expressions that are necessary to me. I only write/record when I feel compelled to do so. This is the lens that I use when observing other people's works. It's a shame that some feel the need to denigrate others rather than giving them the same grace, especially when they're on the same damn side. This denigration is akin to "gate keeping" which I find highly distasteful and somewhat disgraceful. All this does is feed the trolls and make you look like idiots which stains the whole FKR movement, IMO. Remember, "a rising tide lifts all boats."

Video version

Imagine you're Karen Read and you're just living your life as a very successful business woman that is also an adjunct professor. You have loving parents and own a beautiful house. The only fly in the ointment is that your Boston police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe, thinks you spoil the children under his care, his niece and nephew. And you might be feeling a little iffy on the romance front because it feels like every woman in his orbit wants to get their hands on him, regardless of their marital status. 

One night you drop him off after a night of drinking at a "blizzard party" that you're not sure that you and he are actually invited to. You ask him to let you know if you're welcomed and you wait in your car for him to report back. Then you wait some more. And finally you get ticked off and drive back to his place. You're angry and getting angrier because it seems like he's flat out ignoring your calls. You really just want to go back to your own house but one of your boyfriend's charges is sleeping all alone in his house. You're feeling used because this is not the first time he's dumped a responsibility like this in your lap. You try calling your mother for advice even though it's 1:30 in the morning. Finally, you drift off on the couch where you awake several hours later in a panic because he never came home!

You're frantic and fuzzy headed but you know one thing: you must find your boyfriend because he would never have left his niece home alone over night. Even though he could be a bit of a horn dog and sometimes behave like a jackass (as many men do), he takes his responsibility for the children very seriously. Unfortunately, you don't know the people you hung out with the night before all that well. That's why you weren't sure if you were truly welcomed at the after party. You become fixated on one thing: find your boyfriend by any and all means necessary. What you don't know is that, sadly, those you enlist to help you have neither you nor your boyfriend's best interests at heart. 

Imagine you're the one who finds him laying in the snow and cold on the front lawn of the house you dropped him off at. You desperately try to warm him up and administer CPR. When EMS take over shock begins to set in and you cannot make sense of the situation. You wonder if you somehow caused this because that's what normal people do. Could you have somehow prevented this outcome? You frantically pace around, a stream of consciousness pouring loudly out of your mouth. Not one person on the scene offers you comfort - they actually tell you to "shut up." 

You reach out to your parents, beside yourself with grief. The conversation is so alarming that they call 911 which ends up placing you at the exact same hospital your dying boyfriend was taken to. Your father gently breaks the news to you, "he's gone, honey." The next big thing on your mind are the children your boyfriend has been guarding over. You've grown close to them over the last 2 years and you want to be there for them. When you make your way back to the house, your boyfriend's mother stares daggers at you while saying, "You just left him there?!" The place that had felt like home to you has become very hostile. You gather up your possessions with your father's help and flee to a place that is truly home: your parents' house.

Later that day, state troopers arrive and confiscate your car and phone. A few days later you're arrested and charged with manslaughter. The prosecution claims they have ring footage of your crime which turns out to be a big fat lie. Someone approaches your lawyer and tells him a story about your boyfriend being attacked in the "party" house and names three individuals. He knows details that have not yet been discovered, like the wounds to your boyfriends arm and how a dog was involved.

As you and your legal team begin investigating, the DA prosecuting you for this alleged crime sends out an unprecedented video press release to a whole bunch of media outlets in defense of the individuals named by the informant as well as the lead investigator who's friends with the homeowner and his family. First they lie about the ring video and now these out-of-pocket and incredibly prejudicial statements from the office that will eventually upgreade your charges to murder. Outrageous! So you decide to fight fire with fire and begin doing both print and televised interviews to get your side into the public consciousness. 

I am only scratching the surface of what has transpired over the last 3+ years. Remember, the government pretty much has unlimited resources when attempting to convict citizens of crimes. Few have the resources to fight back. Every person charged with a crime has constitutionally protected rights and deserves zealous advocacy. 

If you're unable to put yourself into Karen Read's shoes, it says more about YOU than it does about HER.