Opening statements for Karen Read’s retrial begin

DEDHAM, Mass. (WLNE) — Opening statements for Karen Read’s retrial began on Tuesday.

The prosecution and defense both presented opening arguments Tuesday morning.

Read is accused of hitting O’Keefe with her car in January of 2022, and then leaving him to die in the cold.

Prosecutors played a clip from one of Read’s TV appearances, arguing she knew she hit O’Keefe.

The main theme throughout the defense opening was Michael Proctor, the now-fired state trooper who headed the investigation.

“What you’ll see here in this courtroom in the coming weeks is not just a story of a tragic loss, and make no mistake, John O’Keefe’s death is and was a tragic and tragic, tragic loss,” Defense Attorney Alan Jackson said. “But the story you’ll hear is about an investigation that was riddled with errors from the beginning. A rush to judgment, conflicted and corrupted from the start, corrupted by bias, corrupted by incompetence, and corrupted by deceit. Finally, it was corrupted by a deliberate effort to avoid and to cover up the very truth that you are seeking.”

The first witness called was a Canton Firefighter and EMT who responded to the scene on the night in question.