Transcript
Karen Reed (0:00)
Foreign.
Ashley Banfield (0:04)
Hi, everybody. I'm Ashley Banfield and this is Drop Dead Serious. And today we're heading back into the courtroom for what might just be one of the most controversial murder trials in America, the retrial of Karen Reed. And let me be perfectly clear, this is not some quiet small town proceeding with a jury that's blissfully unaware of the headlines. This case has been everywhere. On social media, on major streaming platforms, on Dateline and true crime podcasts like this one and my News Nation show every night, 10:00, News Nation. The jury may be under instructions to consider only what is presented in court. But they are not walking in blind, not even close. So let me set the stage for you for day one of the evidentiary phase of Karen Reed's retrial for the murder of John O'Keefe. You may, if you followed the case last year, you may have watched the. It's like a fashion show almost. As Karen Reed arrives to court every day. She's always dressed like, impeccably. She's got this very, very slight frame and she's got these really great suits. Like, I love them, they're power suits. She's got a great wardrobe and she's always decked, right, Just decked out when she comes to court. She did not disappoint today. She showed up in this really conservative, snug fitting blue suit and she looked like. I said she looked terrific. She looked businesslike, like a stockbroker because that was her business before and she looked like she meant business. She's flanked by her attorneys. And Alan Jackson is back, baby. Her hotshot attorney from Los Angeles. I covered Alan Jackson when he was a prosecutor and he was prosecuting Phil Spector a gazillion years ago. And he was really good back then and he's only getting better with time. So she's flanked by her attorneys. And the one thing you didn't see as much this time is Karen Reed walking through the throngs of supporters and protesters. Because there are camps in this town. There are camps. There's an official one called the Free Karen Reed Movement. The FKR people, they all wear pink and they've got placards and bullhorns and they're, they are rabid about believing she was set up by corrupt cops. And then there are the pro police folks who think Karen Reed killed an innocent guy and that she's getting away with it. And I should say never. The two should meet, but they do. Because what the judge did this time was pushed the, the barricades farther out to keep the protesters away from the courthouse. So I didn't see Karen Reed, like, you know, weaving through all the protesters like she did last year. It's different this time. And that's because during jury deliberations, the jurors reported to the judge, they could hear the chanting of the protesters outside their deliberation room. So the judge doesn't want that to happen again, doesn't want that to interfere with this judicial process. So that doesn't mean that there wasn't chaos, because what happened was Karen Reed's supporters were angry that they were shoved into these, like, these remote locations far away from the courthouse. And they were really, like, jockeying for position and jostling. And one of them got so ornery with the attending police officers, who, by the way, are earning their money, they are having to work very hard keeping these people in line. And it got so bad, at one point, they just went in for the arrest for, you know, on one of these. These streamers, a guy who was there streaming, and they arrested him and they. They've, like, hauled him away. And as of like, 11:00 at night, tonight, and then this is day one, he's in jail, right, and he's being charged with disorderly conduct, among some other things. So they meant business. Apparently one car drove by the front of the courthouse and was, like, leaning on the horn, yelling out the window, free Gary and all that business. And cops descended on that car as well. So they are trying to be very strict about the behavior outside the courthouse. But the circus is back, and my feeling is, is that it will probably just build, because the last time round, that's what happened. It started off, you know, as one number, but it grew exponentially, and the free care and read movement came out in droves. So we'll watch. But all of that said, these jurors in Karen's case are the ones that are tasked with cutting through the noise. And today they got their first real look at what both sides plan to argue. I want to walk you through the opening statements and the first two witnesses who took the stand today on day one, Special prosecutor Hank Brennan, who, by the way, was Whitey Bulger's defense attorney during that infamous federal trial. He opened the Commonwealth's case by telling jurors that Karen Reid killed boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, and then just callously left him to die there in the Snow. The prosecutor, Mr. Brennan, said that the evidence is clear that Karen Reed was drinking, she was emotional, and that in the middle of a tense fight with John O'Keefe on January 28, 2022. And when she dropped him off at an after party on Fairview Road, she backed her car right into him.
