← The Stefon Diggs Trial: Commonwealth Confidential
The Stefon Diggs Trial: Commonwealth Confidential
Why court was suddenly called off — the latest Karen Read case surprise
00:20:29
After a surprise in the Karen Read murder trial, details on the "unavoidable circumstances" that led to court being canceled for the day. Our courtroom insider shares what it was like learning about the abrupt cancellation in real time — plus, our legal experts share more about Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik's testimony, and we take more of your questions.
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- [00:00]
Anchor
You're watching NBC 10 Boston news worthy of you. Tonight, court canceled details on the unavoidable circumstance that prevented testimony today and the possible impact. Plus, with no court in session, we're looking closer at what's already been said on the stand and how it could be going over with the jury.
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Witness
Nobody showed me anything of his investigation.
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Judge
Okay, so let's wrap this up. I'm not letting any of this in.
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Anchor
The reasoning behind a mid testimony legal move done away from jurors and our legal experts delve deeper into the new evidence and what it could mean. Canton Confidential the Karen Reed murder trial starts right now.
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J.C. Monahan
Well, almost everyone had arrived to court this morning in the Karen Reed murder trial as usual, only be to be told to go home. Good evening. Thanks for joining us tonight. I'm J.C. monahan.
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Glenn Jones
And I'm Glenn Jones. We now know it was because of Karen Reed's health. Our John Maroney takes us through today's developments.
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Michael Coyne
The trial has been moving quite quickly.
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Anchor
All's quiet at Norfolk Superior Court with an unexpected day off in the murder retrial of Karen Reed. The break coming with the defendant suffering an undisclosed illness.
- [01:20]
Michael Coyne
Until the last three days, it seemed like we were really going to end relatively quickly with the prosecution's case.
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Anchor
Last on the stand, state police Sgt. Yuri Buchanak, a key witness in the case against the 45 year old defendant who's pleaded not guilty to hitting John o' Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow. Michael Coyne is NBC10 Boston's chief legal analyst.
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Michael Coyne
You kind of could have done better, a lot better by just answering the questions directly, not appearing so evasive and taking the hits when they came.
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Anchor
The prosecution says the relationship between Reed and o' Keefe was strained. The couple went on a trip to Aruba before o' Keefe died where they apparently fought over his alleged involvement with another woman. Prosecutors are now asking for permission to tell the jury about the incident after first saying they wouldn't.
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Michael Coyne
The idea that she's so full of rage with respect to that incident in Aruba that that could provide some motivation for murder.
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Judge
I hit him. I hit him. I hit him.
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Anchor
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan is winding down his case. So far he hasn't called former state trooper Michael Proctor as well as ATF agent Brian Higgins and Brian Al, both of whom the defense says are third party culprits responsible for Jon o' Keefe's death. The question remains, will the defense call them if the prosecution doesn't?
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Michael Coyne
I don't know Whether having to call those witnesses and put them in, put that evidence in themselves, whether it'll be quite as effective. The jury's already heard it now, hopefully it's resonated with them as the defense would like.
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Anchor
As of right now, the trial is set to resume tomorrow morning at 9 o' clock in Dedham. John Maroney, back to you.
- [03:08]
J.C. Monahan
All right. Joining the conversation is our courtroom insider, Sue o' Connell and retired Massachusetts Judge Jack Lew. Thank you so much for being here. Sue. We wanted to start with you simply because you were in court when the announcement was made that there would be no court today. How did that play? How did it go down and what were, you know, the reaction?
- [03:26]
Judge
Well, that overstates the announcement part, JC because there was a lot of confusion. So I arrived at the courtroom, at the court like I usually do at 8:30 and there was actually a line to pick up our press passes, which we have to get on the first floor when we get in, and nothing was happening. And there was a lot of, a lot of people in and out of offices. We could tell something was happening. But it's a courthouse, there are other trials going on, so you always have to keep in mind it may not be about us. And then as we were waiting in line, someone looked at their email and saw that we got an email from the court saying that court was not happening today due to an unforeseen circumstance. So then we all just went and sat and waited to see who we saw. We saw Hank Brennan from the prosecution, we saw Adam Lally, we didn't see the Clerk of Courts. We looked around to see if there's anybody else we might recognize. We each start calling our contacts, our sources, trying to see if we could find out what happened. And of course, you know, we had some information, we didn't have it confirmed. Other stations had information and we just sort of waited until to see if there was going to be an announcement. So no official announcement, but as we and others are reporting, Karen called in sick today because she wasn't feeling well. And the court just said, that's fine, we'll move on.
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Glenn Jones
So, Judge, on that basis, the defendant is unwell. Is that a reasonable reason to hit pause on everything?
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Michael Coyne
Absolutely. The defendant, Ms. Reed, right now is under just a wacky amount of pressure, super pressure, and it's understandable that she would get sick from the psychological pressure. And if it's such a long trial, I wouldn't be shocked if other players need a day of rest just to handle it, you know, while the Judge.
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Glenn Jones
Has been very vocal in trying to protect the time and space of the jurors. She's done that repeatedly. We want to show you an example from yesterday when she spoke up during testimony over concerns the questioning could go longer than expected.
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Witness
I didn't step outside, but once he was invited, according to your narrative, wouldn't they have a discussion outside where he was invited to come out?
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Judge
So, Mr. Jackson, I just want to ask you how much longer?
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Glenn Jones
Not.
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Judge
Not long. I can finish this up if you give me 10. Probably 10 min. Jurors are saying yes. Is it okay with all the jurors?
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J.C. Monahan
We usually break at 4.
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Judge
I don't. I don't want to overstep. I'm happy to stop now, but I think I can get finished. I'd like to finish with this witness.
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J.C. Monahan
And I have to bring him back again tomorrow.
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Morgietta Derisier
Thank you.
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Witness
Thank you, your honor.
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Judge
I appreciate the accommodation.
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Glenn Jones
So, judge, this is a complicated case. Lots of witnesses. What are your thoughts about the judge's ability to keep things moving?
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Michael Coyne
This is the. This judge is a saint. This judge is a saint. And so if that judge said that, then, you know, 10 times that was permissible. I mean, there's a range. The judge has wide discretion. So the judge that the judge said something tells you it went way beyond what it should have. And of course it did, because of the extreme evasive nature of the sergeant's testimony. Just delaying and delaying. But the judge is so nice to everybody and totally neutral to each side, to the defense and to the prosecution right down the middle.
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J.C. Monahan
So now that we know the jury hasn't been told why there was no court today, it's human nature for people to speculate how, as from both of you, let's start with judge Lu. Do you think this could impact the jurors if they never do find out why it was canceled at the last minute?
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Michael Coyne
I don't think so. I think they'd infer something like that. Or maybe they think the judge. After all the judge has had to endure, maybe they think the judge needs a day off, but I don't think it'll be a big deal. They are going to Bethey are and are going to be so emotionally invested in this trial that they're going to just fly right past those things.
- [07:15]
Judge
I imagine she will tell them tomorrow or if we have court tomorrow, that it was due to illness. She may not specify whose illness, but my experience of watching her now from the last trial and this trial is she is as transparent as she can be when you know they're out for a sidebar that takes a long time. She tells them it was a sidebar when we're working on this. She doesn't need to tell them any of those things.
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J.C. Monahan
You mentioned state police Sergeant Buchanak, and he was on the stand for three days. And yesterday you heard our chief legal analyst, Michael Coyne say Buchanak appeared evasive. We want to show you a small portion of yesterday's redirect and cross examination.
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Judge
Why did you speak to her at her home rather than ask her or.
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Witness
Force her to come to the police station? Same reasons we interviewed the witnesses. The driving conditions, the time that it would take for her to respond, the comfort of her own home, her parents home. Mission was to go through the phone to look for digital evidence that's related to the crime. The fact that he wrote no nude so far I cannot comment on.
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Judge
You cannot comment on or you don't want to comment on?
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Witness
I don't know what he was looking for in that specific.
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J.C. Monahan
That's just a snippet. But Jack, you had already talked about how do you think that this impacts the jury when they see a witness. Rapid fire answer when it's prosecution and slow and in many ways evasive when it is on cross examination.
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Michael Coyne
Yeah. Crazy, poorly trained. I think the jurors understand it better than we do because of their collective wisdom. Not necessarily a formal education, but probably a good helping of that. And they know that that is super evasive. What he did, his testimony was worth maybe a little more than a full day, something like that. And he delayed it all that time. They understand that. But the defense should not go and celebrate just yet because the substantive impact of his testimony might have been devastating.
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Glenn Jones
The judge says three times longer than expected for that.
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Judge
Absolutely. I mean, you have to understand, I can imagine they feel like their time is wasted when you can't answer if that's someone's handwriting or that is a warrant. You know, you feel like you get anxious, like, can you just do it? Then you see the comparison. Right. And then there are times when someone is being evasive and saying they can't remember, when they absolutely, honestly can't remember. And you can see the difference when they're saying, I don't know. I think that meeting was on a Tuesday or a Wednesday as opposed to, I don't recall because I can't read it in the report. And that gives the jury information as to when they're on. Honestly not remembering when they're being evasive, when they're telling the truth. And when they're actually straight out lying.
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Glenn Jones
Let's narrow into one part of Sergeant Buchanak's testimony. It had to do with the sudden voir dire. This is where the judge is able to preview the testimony and then make a ruling on its admissibility. Let's listen.
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Witness
Attached in the. In the text message that I was shown from that investigation. Nobody showed me anything of his investigation.
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Judge
Okay, so let's wrap this up. Okay.
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Michael Coyne
That was basically all I got.
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Judge
Okay. All right. Do you want to be heard, Mr. Jackson? No. Okay. Yeah. I'm not letting any of this in. I. I think it's all invisible that. I understand the court's ruling was, if he doesn't have personal knowledge of it and didn't have it, then. Then you're not going to let it in for our objection, but that's been noted. Okay, so you got your idea, and.
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Morgietta Derisier
I'm glad we flushed it all out.
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Judge
And then she said, and you get 25 minutes for lunch, not the 50.
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Glenn Jones
This warrior happened on day three of Buchanak's testimony. The jury was not in the room. It isn't typical. At least we haven't seen a voir sort of pop up in the middle of someone's testimony in this way. Is that rare to happen?
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Michael Coyne
It's pretty common. And actually, all those voir dares they had long before trial, they could have stuffed them in like this just the same. And there's an argument that that might have, you know. Well, that might have been better. I don't know. But, yeah, that's pretty common. All right.
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Glenn Jones
She made a decision quickly.
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J.C. Monahan
She did. In which case, Alan Jackson still objected to the decision in the courtroom. Do you think that he, you know, the feel you've seen Alan Jackson now for so many times, that he knew that was coming, that this was performative more than actually, you know, that they were going to gain anything.
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Judge
Yeah, he didn't continue to make the. I mean, you know, it was kind of clear. He went through the motions, and it was kind of clear what the judge going to rule, and then he was kind of like, accepting it. But I, you know, I defer to you. But now it's on record if there's an issue that he objected to it, and if there's an appeal aspect to it, at least they have it on the record.
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J.C. Monahan
All right, Jack, sue, thank you so much. Don't go away. We have much more coming back with defense attorney Morgietta De Russia after the break. And we're taking a look at new evidence. Prevent Presented by Reed's defense team. There is video and flirty text to go over and we are answering more viewer questions. Don't go anywhere.
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Glenn Jones
And before we go to break, we want to take a moment to remember John o' Keefe, the victim in this case. The Braintree native was a Boston police officer who became the legal guardian of his niece and nephew after the children lost both of their parents to illness. You're watching Canton Confidential, the Karen Reed murder trial.
- [12:36]
Anchor
Don't miss any of the Karen Reed murder trial. Get the full recap of what happened in court, expert analysis and what we could see next. This is coverage you won't see anywhere else. Canton confidential, weeknights at 7 on NBC 10 Boston.
- [12:53]
J.C. Monahan
We're back now with defense attorney Morgietta Derisier and our courtroom insider, Sue O' Connell. So with court canceled, today gave us a little time to look more closely at new evidence introduced yesterday. We want to start with the footage of ATF agent Brian Higgins at the Canton police station. He was seen on surveillance cameras in and around the police station in the early morning hours of January 29, 2022, just hours before John O' Keefe would be found outside 34 Fairview Road. The video timestamped just before 1:30am so that video is new evidence presented by the defense. Brian Higgins did testify to what we saw, but this is the first time that we're seeing the video. So Morgietta, now that the video is there, did it corroborate what we already knew? And more importantly, did the defense get anything out of that?
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Morgietta Derisier
It definitely corroborated everything that we have seen so far. And as I've said to other people, the jury is going to remember what they hear and did they hear it right. But now they're going to actually see this and they're going to be able to take this video back with them along with other videos during their deliberation. So this is more impactful than just hearing the testimony from Buchanan. You can actually see it and, you know, start to think about, well, why is he there? The angle, why is he walking around like that? So I feel like it landed more impactfully than just the testimony that we heard.
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Glenn Jones
Another piece of video that we saw yesterday was the Sally Port video was the focus of Reed's lawyers. That's where officers took Reed's SUV to be processed by investigators. The video raised red flags during the first trial because someone noticed the official police video was flipped. The defense claims the reversal plays into a police cover up theory. But Sergeant Buchanic said on the stand that inverted video is quite common in Canton. Listen.
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Witness
Did you investigate and learn whether.
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Judge
Or not there was any other video in addition to that interior Sally port.
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Witness
Back wall where video was set up.
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Judge
By the town of Canton that appears.
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Michael Coyne
Inverted rather than forward?
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Witness
Yes. The investigation revealed that multiple cameras had a lens applied to it that was inverted. I believe it is inside the Ken pd, the hallways, possibly, and if I am not mistaken, the other locations within the town of Canton.
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Glenn Jones
So Sid, you were in the courtroom both times that this video was introduced into evidence. The second time around was vastly different than the first.
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Judge
Well, the first time they discovered it, Karen Reid saw it and pointed to it and we came back here and we had our. It was alive. What are they doing? You know, and I forget who presented if it was Buchanan. Last time they didn't know. I mean it was clear to me that it was a surprise to everyone. So this time kind of like the self inflicted wound here because it was inverted, they still got to start in the same spot the defense did and point out it was inverted. And then they got to spend more time talking about where Proctor was or where Proctor wasn't or where it was. So it wasn't so much about the video being inverted this time. It was that no one noticed. And of course saying it was true and accurate and having poor Buchanan try to say that a mirror image is true and accurate, but it's not, as we all know, and on and on. And then of course we find out that in Canton apparently that's just what they do. I'm not racist, I hate everybody. I mean that's basically. We didn't like pick on Karen to do this. All of our cameras work this way. So I think it's a little magical area Canton, where things are mirrored image sometimes. So it didn't have the same impact. No, but again it did highlight what but the prosecution didn't want highlighted because of a self inflicted wound.
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J.C. Monahan
Okay, so we also saw more text messages between Karen Reid and Brian Higgins during the first trial. Snippets of their conversation were read out loud in court. This time there were many more messages and it indicated a flirty relationship at time morgieta with your experience, this type of evidence that it expanded from the first time, is that going to help this third party culprit defense and if so, how?
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Morgietta Derisier
Absolutely, because the context is everything, especially in this trial. You've seen the prosecution putting in clips of Karen Reid's interviews when they want to, how they want to, in between witnesses and this is one of the pieces of evidence that we've seen so far that we're seeing everything, right? And so this third party culprit, it's not that they have to raise anything. Remember, the defense doesn't have to bring any claims or anything as part of their case in chief. But if you looking at the totality of the conspiracy with the inverted video, with all these messages, it's really pointing to the reasonable doubt. They don't have to, but the more that they do, jurors, viewers, everyone's starting to see, okay, maybe there really is a conspiracy. And it's going to continue to land over and over again because the prosecution is kind of ignoring it. And the defense is like, oh, no, no, no. Let's bring this right to the light.
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J.C. Monahan
All right, this brings us to one of our viewer questions. The third party culprit, this is Mickey from Belmont, California. Hello, California. He asks if Karen Reed is found not guilty and this retrial shows that John O' Keefe's murder happened inside the home on 34 at Fairview, will that automatically start another trial against who is possibly guilty, or would they go free? Morgietta.
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Morgietta Derisier
So again, it's the district attorney's office's job to decide who they're going to prosecute, what case they're going to put together, and if they're going to put it together. And as we've said many times on this show, we have to think about the o' Keeffe family. How many times are they really going to put them through this? Right. Even if there's, you know, this concrete evidence, unless it's without a shadow of a doubt, how many times are you going to put them through this? Right. So of course they can retry this case if Karen Reed gets and not guilty. But do you want to at this point, and is it going to be as shoddy as some of the other things that we've seen in this trial? And the district Attorney's office really has to take a hard look at that.
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Judge
And remember, the defense just has to bring reasonable doubt. They're not solving the case. Right. So they just have to say, perhaps this person did it. And Glenn, as you have reported a thousand times, this investigation, although Buchanak said it's still ongoing, is considered closed.
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Glenn Jones
Right. That's the way the state police classifies it.
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Judge
It.
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Glenn Jones
We've heard from John o' Keefe's family, friends and investigators all testify. And now our viewer, Shelley, wants to know, will there be character witnesses for Karen Reed? We saw John's mom take the stand during the trial. Sue, what are your thoughts on that? We certainly didn't see anything quite like that in the first trial.
- [19:15]
Judge
Well, we did kind of because some of the Commonwealth witnesses went on and talked about how Karen was great with the kids and they had a great relationship, so they sort of served as that. But I don't know that they'll be character witnesses because I think it also opens. You better to know the night opens the door to other questions that they may not want to ask.
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Morgietta Derisier
Yeah, you know, I think we. We may not. I think the defense is focusing right now on the holes that they're trying to cover up that the prosecution is bringing to light. I honestly don't know whether or not they need the character witnesses for Karen Reid because again, they don't have to prove a case at all. Right. But if they are going to prove anything, they're going to focus on the third party culprit theory that they're going after, and they're also going to talk about the police investigation. That alone should be enough reasonable doubt for them to bring to the jury as opposed to talking about Karen herself. Because Karen could be an amazing person or a horrible person, but is she a murderer? And that's what they really need to focus on.
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J.C. Monahan
So just to remind everybody, we're just into the prosecution's case. Still a lot of witnesses left to see how they're going to play out their scenario of how this happened.
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Glenn Jones
And our expectation is that court will restart tomorrow. Thank you so much, Morgieta and Sue.