(NewsNation) — The retrial of Karen Read continued Thursday, with more witnesses taking the stand on the trial’s third day.
Read is accused of striking her police officer boyfriend with her SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm in 2022. Last year, her first trial ended in a hung jury, and a mistrial was declared.
The Massachusetts woman has been charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene in the death of John O’Keefe.
Prosecutors have so far relied on witnesses from the scene. The jury, which took 10 days to select, has heard testimony from police officers and firefighters, as well as friends and family of O’Keefe.
Read’s defense attorneys have pushed the narrative that several police officers are behind O’Keefe’s death and have colluded with other officers to cover it up.
Witnesses describe Karen Read, John O’Keefe’s relationship
Michael Camerano, a friend of O’Keefe’s, testified Thursday that the couple were affectionate with each other at a bar in Canton, Massachusetts, hours before the alleged violence.
Defense attorney David Yannetti asked whether O’Keefe had ever suggested he might break up with Read, and Camerano replied: “No.”
In the first trial, witnesses referenced the couple’s strained relationship in the time leading up to O’Keefe’s death.
“And during the month before John’s passing, that January of 2022, you observed their relationship in your presence to be normal, caring, and affectionate, right?” defense attorney David Yannetti asked.
“Yes,” Camerano said.
Text messages between Karen Read, John O’Keefe shared
Massachusetts State Police Trooper Nicholas Guarino also took the stand on Thursday. Guarino compiled text messages and phone calls extracted from O’Keefe’s phone.
He read aloud the couple’s interaction on Jan. 28, which prosecutors said earlier this week would help show the tension between the pair.
“You will read those text messages, and you will realize this was the beginning of the end of this relationship,” prosecutor Hank Brennan told the jurors Monday.
The messages showed Read and O’Keefe discussing an argument they’d had earlier that morning and disagreeing over when, how and whether they should meet that evening.
It also showed multiple calls between the pair — most lasting around two minutes — and Read’s rejected attempts to contact O’Keefe via phone throughout the afternoon.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.