← Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
Karen Read Trial Nears End: Defense Expert Says Injuries Not from SUV | Karen Read Trial Day 30 Bombshells
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Ashley Banfield
Foreign. Hey, everyone, I'm Ashley Banfield, and this is Drop Dead Serious. It is day 30 of the Karen Reed retrial, and we are officially in the home stretch. Thank you, Jesus. Today we heard fierce testimony from a pathologist and the debut of what may be the final witness for the defense, a biomechanics expert who says the injuries in this case just do not line up with a tail light. But before the jury even walked into the room this morning, the legal fireworks had already started. Right out of the gate, Judge Kanoni was cracking down on the expert testimony. The defense and the prosecution clashed over what exactly is going to be allowed. First, the judge wanted to talk about some pictures that the defense might show to the jury. One of them showed John o' Keefe's brain stem, and the judge said it might be too graphic for them. She told the defense to crop out some of the blood to make it less disturbing. And then came a fight about testimony. The defense wanted their expert witness, Dr. La Posada, to say John O' Keefe's wounds were from a dog bite. But the judge said no, she would not be allowed to say that. She said the jury could hear only one sentence, that the wounds looked like ones Dr. La Posada had seen before that were from, quote, an animal, but she could not say dog. That made Karen Reed's lawyer, Alan Jackson, furious. He said this was unfair and outrageous. He tried to show pictures to make his point, but the judge, again, not having it, she said no. Then prosecutor Hank Brennan stood up, and he accused the defense of trying to sneak in things that they shouldn't be allowed to say in court, basically using witnesses to say things that the law does not allow. What's key here is that the court has decided that this witness doesn't have the qualifications to be able to say those things. So, like, end of argument. At one point, Brennan and Jackson got into a heated back and forth, disagreeing about what was said. The judge said that she'd make a decision in 10 minutes and that they'd then bring the jury in to HEAR More from Dr. La Posada. And that's how the day started, with a whole lot of drama before the jury even got in the room. And when the jury finally did walk in, Dr. Elizabeth La Posada was already waiting on the stand. And right away, things got graphic. She started by pointing to an injury on John o' Keeffe's eyelid and told the jury that it did not match the shape or the height of the spoiler on Karen Reed's suv. She then moved on to the injury that mattered the most, the one that killed him. Dr. La Posada said that John O' Keefe suffered a brain stem herniation, a serious injury where the brain swells so much that it gets pushed down into the spine. She said that kind of trauma would have knocked him out instantly. He wouldn't have been able to get up or walk or move around after that. That was a serious blow to the head. The jury was shown photos of John o' Keefe's brain. Brain. Real autopsy images. And some of them were really, really hard to look at. Before they were shown, Judge Kanoni gave the jury a warning. Do not let your emotions take over. Focus on the facts, the judge said. Dr. La Posada then explained that the back of John O' Keeffe's head showed two very specific patterns, tiny dots and a long ridge, the kind you see when someone falls backwards onto a rough or bumpy surface. She said investigators should have gone back to the scene to look for something that could have caused those marks. And when Reed's lawyer asked her what was at the scene, the front yard of 34 Fairview Road, La Posada did not miss a beat. She said, quote, just a flat grass surface, end quote. And folks that answer. That answer got the jury's attention. Reporters in the courtroom said they were visibly reacting. Okay, that's important, y' all. In a jury trial, when you bring up a mic drach moment and the jury reacts, that's important. It's what you hope for. It's what you look for, it's what you pray for, because it can be the difference between guilty and reasonable doubt. And then came another big disagreement about hypothermia. Another doctor had said that John O' Keefe might have died from the cold, but Dr. La Posada said, absolutely not. She told the jury that she's done autopsies on people who froze to death and that his injuries did not match. She showed a photo of a stomach from someone who did die from the cold and put it next to John o' Keeffe's. The difference? Quote, no ulcerations, end quote. According to the doctor, quote, he did not die of hypothermia, end quote. And the jury leaned in, and many of them took notes. Again, if you are the defense attorney, you are jumping for joy so silently inside. Because when a jury's focused, when they're taking notes, it means they care. It means they think this is something that's important enough to Remember, and that's what this jury was doing at that point. Next up, CPR. Dr. La Posada explained that some of John O' Keefe's injuries, like rib fractures and bleeding in the stomach, weren't from a beating or from a crash. They were from something called the Lucas Machine. That's a device that does mechanical chest compressions. The jury was shown a photo of the Lucas Machine, and it was during this part of the testimony that John o' Keefe's mother stepped out of the courtroom. Again, I can't stress enough how much that matters. Jurors don't miss a beat, and they know that that is the victim's mom. And they also know that this is very, very painful for family members. So watching her walk out of the courtroom is the moment they don't forget and a moment that sticks in their gut. After that, Dr. La Posada got to the most debated part of this entire trial. The injuries on John o' Keefe's arm. She told the jury that those injuries happened while John o' Keefe was still alive. And in her opinion, they look just like the injuries from, quote, an animal's bite or claw, end quote. Karen Reed's lawyer, Alan Jackson, tried to ask her if she knew what kind of animal might have caused them. But the judge was not having it, wouldn't allow it. Still, Dr. La Posada stood firm. There was swelling. There was bleeding. Quote, these wounds, she said, happened before he died. Just when you thought Dr. La Posada's testimony was finally gaining steam, the interruptions began, and they were over and over again, one after another, sidebar after sidebar. Reporters in the room said that jurors were getting frustrated and that that frustration was written all over their faces. Not good. First, Alan Jackson tried asking whether John o' Keefe's arm injuries could have come from Karen Reed's suv. The prosecution objected, but this time, Judge Canoni said, quote, nope, I'm allowing that in. But right after that, the next question Jackson asked was struck from the record. Then Dr. La Posada gave a bold answer. She said flat out, the injuries weren't from a car. They were from an animal. Boom. Objection. The judge struck that from the record, too, and called another sidebar. And after that, Jackson shifted Gears. He asked Dr. La Posada about her final report. And she started explaining that there wasn't any bruising on John o' Keeffe's body that would suggest a crash. And that's when things got tense again. Jackson picked up a poster sized photo and started walking it towards the witness stand. And right on cue, prosecutor Hank Brennan jumped in sidebar. And that led straight to yet another legal delay. Judge Canoni shut it down immediately. She turned to the lawyers and said, quote, work it out, and if you can't, I'll deal with it in front of the jury. After the lunch break, the prosecutor started in on Dr. La Posada. He asked about her final report and started pressing hard. He even brought up a 25 year old audit and tried to tie her to a backlog of cases when she worked in Rhode Island. He even mentioned the station nightclub fire where 100 people died in a tragic stampede out of that club. The prosecutor said Dr. La Posada wasn't even on the scene. But Dr. La Posada did not back down. She told the court the criticism was was nothing more than bad press and had no basis in fact. And then there was another long sidebar, and the jury was excused. And while the jury was out of the room, Karen's lawyer, Alan Jackson, backed her up, telling the judge, this was not about negligence, it was about politics. He also pointed out that prosecutor Brennan had actually used Dr. La Posada as an expert witness in his own cases in the past. But Brennan wasn't done. After the jury returned, he got into the details, questioning her medical background, pointing out that she is not a neurosurgeon, and pressing her on how quickly she could tell when John O' Keefe's brain started to swell. Dr. La Posetta fired back, quote, immediately after the injury, end quote. Brennan tried to say her answer was too vague, that, quote, medium to large force was a very wide range. But the judge struck that comment from the record. And then they began a back and forth about the back of John o' Keeffe's head and whether a skull fracture like his could have come from falling backwards. Dr. La Posada said, yes, but that every wound is different. And as for the ground outside of 34 Fairview, she said again, all she saw in the photos was, was a flat, grassy surface. At one point, Brennan asked if the brain was as soft as tofu. And Dr. Laposada replied, Gross. And the jury actually laughed, and so did the courtroom. And next, prosecutor Brennan started going through photos of John o' Keefe's right arm. The same injuries, the defense said, are from an animal, specifically a dog. Dr. La Posada said she saw about six or seven puncture wounds. She also said the injuries were not from glass or plastic shards either. When Brennan pushed her on DNA, whether there was dog DNA on John o' Keefe. She said that was not her area. She didn't test the DNA and hadn't reviewed it either. Then came one of the more memorable exchanges. Brennan asked, quote, did you look into how fast the vehicle was, might have been going, end quote. And Dr. La Posada did not hesitate, quote, it didn't hit him, so it doesn't matter, end quote. And she said it again, quote, there was no evidence of vehicle impact, so the speed of the car isn't relevant to my opinion, end quote. Finally, Brennan asked about a cut under John o' Keefe's eye, one that she previously said might have come from a punch. Could it have come from the ground? No, she said, but maybe an object, just not the spoiler of Karen Reed's suv. And then Brennan brought up a claim that Karen Reed once made that when she got to John o' Keefe's body, she pulled glass out of John o' Keefe's face and that blood spurted out. Could that happen if he was already dead? And Dr. La Posada shook her head, no. You wouldn't get a spurt of blood from arterial pressure unless the heart was still beating. And when it came to hypothermia, Brennan kept trying to get her to admit that it was at least possible that someone, maybe not John o' Keefe, could survive the cold with a low body temperature. But Dr. La Posada wouldn't budge. Quote. Sure, people die of hypothermia, she said, but that's not what happened here, end quote. On redirect, Jackson had her walk the jury through X rays of John O' Keefe's arm. And then, with no further questions, Dr. La Posada was about to be excused. But before she could step down, Brennan tried one more tactic. He brought up a crash test video showing a dummy getting hit by an suv. He played it in the courtroom, but when he asked Dr. La Posada to respond to it, the defense jumped in with a fast objection. Judge Kanoni agreed and struck the entire line of questioning, including the video. And just like that, after hours of back and forth and a whole lot of tension, Dr. Elizabeth La Posada's time on the witness stand finally came to an end. And then it was time for the defense's final witness. Alan Jackson called Andrew Rentschler to the stand. A biomechanical expert from arca, a crash reconstruction outfit. And the second analyst they brought in, after Daniel Wolf. Rentschler walked the jury through his background explaining how he has worked with the US Military on protecting soldiers from blast injuries and even consulted with the NHL on how to prevent head trauma on the ice. He said his job as a biomechanist is to study how different forces impact the human body and then apply that knowledge to real world injuries. And then he turned to the Karen Reed case. Rentschler told the jury he was not hired by the defense, but instead by an outside government agency. I got a little side note here. If you've been following this trial, you may already know this, but that agency that he so vaguely referred to was actually the Department of Justice. Right, the feds. But the jury was not allowed to hear that. A lot of back and forth over why this was in huge pre trial motion issues. But safe to say all this witness was allowed to say was that he was hired by the government. Dr. Rentschler said that in fact, when he was first brought in, he was told not to read any reports from either side, just look at the injuries and let the science speak. So he did this and his conclusion was that the injuries to John O. Keefe's head and arm did not match a tail light hit, not even close. He explained that if John o' Keeffe's head had slammed into the tail light, there would have been other injuries too, but that there just weren't. And with that answer, Judge Canoni sent the jury home reminding everyone that this case is, quote, definitely winding down, end quote. If the pace holds, we could be just days away from deliberations, possibly even by Friday of this week. And that's where we leave it. On day 30 of the Karen Reed trial, the testimony is nearly over, the tension is building, and the finish line is finally in sight. I'm Ashley Banfield. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, the truth isn't just serious, it's drop dead serious.