Read's lawyers say O’Keefe, 46, was beaten, bitten by a dog, then left outside a home in Canton in a conspiracy orchestrated by the police that included planting evidence against Read.
Read's second trial has so far followed similar contours to the first, which ended in a mistrial last year. The judge, who also oversaw the first trial, said closing statements could arrive on Friday.
The defense rested on the 31st day of the second trial.
Read will not testify at second trial
Read did not testify at her first murder trial and will not testify at this one, either.
Read told reporters on Tuesday that the defense has called its final witness and that the jury has already heard from her in the form of interview clips. The case could be headed toward closing statements as soon as this week.
“They've heard my voice,” Read told reporters outside court. “They've heard a lot of me.”
The case will go to the jury after closing statements. Read's announcement came a day before the defense rested its case.
Crash expert says damage to the SUV and clothing are inconsistent with a collision
Daniel Wolfe, who works for the accident reconstruction firm ARCCA, testified Monday about the numerous tests he and others conducted of a dummy colliding with a replica of Read’s SUV taillight at various speeds.
Wolfe, who testified for the prosecution at Read’s first trial but this time is being paid to speak in her defense, also described a test in which an SUV backed into a crash test dummy’s arm suspended in the air and a full-body dummy wearing clothing that matched O’Keefe’s outfit on the night he died.
A prosecution expert testified that O’Keefe’s injuries were consistent with having been struck by a vehicle. But Wolfe said the damage to Read’s taillight and O’Keefe’s clothing was inconsistent with striking an arm or a body.
Wolfe acknowledged that the dummy arm he used for some of the tests weighed more than 2 pounds (0.9 kilogram) less than O’Keefe’s arm likely weighed, based on his height and weight. He denied that it made a difference in his conclusions and noted that the actual weight of O’Keefe’s arm was not known.
Andrew Rentschler, a biomechanical engineer and accident reconstructionist from ARCCA, also testified on Tuesday and Wednesday. He also found O'Keefe's injuries were inconsistent with a vehicle strike. Rentschler was the defense's final witness.
Former medical examiner says O'Keefe died of trauma, not hypothermia
The medical examiner's report says O’Keefe died from hypothermia and blunt impact injuries to the head. But on Tuesday, an expert witness for the defense called that autopsy into question.
Elizabeth Laposata, a forensic pathologist, said O'Keefe died from blunt force trauma alone.
“The body did not have any hypothermia,” Laposata said.
The medical examiner who performed O'Keefe's autopsy, Irini Scordi-Bello, testified earlier that she could not determine the cause of O'Keefe's death to a reasonable degree of medical certainty but that hypothermia was a contributing factor.
Laposata also said she didn’t think eye injuries suffered by O'Keefe were consistent with being hit by the rear of Read’s SUV. She said there was no evidence of impact from a vehicle at all.
The judge barred Laposata from testifying about potential dog bite wounds, but allowed her to say that some of O'Keefe's injuries were consistent with an animal bite. She said they were “very much” consistent with bite or claw marks, and appeared to be inflicted before death.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP