Taylor’s Takes: What I’m NOT looking forward to in Karen Read’s retrial

The Karen Read retrial began this week. I haven’t been paying all that much attention to the various pre-trial hearings and motions in the weeks leading up to this moment. To be completely honest, I found myself burned out on Karen Read-related stories after the anti-climactic mistrial was declared by a jury last year.

During the Karen Read trial in 2024, however, I was hooked. I was listening to YouTube lawyers on my way into work, remained glued to my computer monitor watching the trial during the day, and I listened to the same YouTube lawyers summarize the day’s events on the way home.

But when the mistrial was declared at the beginning of July, I had the same feeling when I came to the series finale of The Sopranos. The mistrial declaration was essentially a “cut to black” just as you were about to get closure on the two months of hell Karen Read and John O’Keefe’s family had been through. I felt I had been cheated. I can only imagine what those whose lives and reputations hang in the balance felt like.

But I’m climbing back on the horse, ready to have my heart broken again. And I could think of no better way to reinvest myself than to do what I do best: complain.

Here are all of the things I’m not looking forward to as we re-hash the Karen Read courtroom drama in search of a definitive and just conclusion.

Sidebars

To watch just the news coverage day-by-day during the first trial, you would have thought you were watching the greatest, most action-packed soap opera. On some days, you would have been right. On most, that was the furthest thing from the truth.

High-profile trials are largely romanticized by the media. But the Karen Read trial’s “You can’t handle the truth” moments were few and far between.

The biggest drag of the trial were the endless sidebars. With such a unique set of legal circumstances (a Commonwealth trial taking place at the same time as a federal investigation into the very same matter), the defense especially was very limited in what they could ask and how they could ask it of the witnesses.

Needless witnesses

In the same vain as sidebars, the needless witnesses really halted the action of the first trial.

When the sisters who were vacationing with O’Keefe and Read in Aruba were called to the stand to effectively tattle on Karen for being outwardly jealous of her boyfriend, you could almost hear a collective “SO WHAT?!” emanating from all corners of Massachusetts.

It had no bearing on the case whatsoever. And I hope any and all such witnesses are kept off of the prosecution’s call sheet this time around.

Auntie Bev

Judge Beverly Cannone. From day one of the first trial, Auntie Bev’s bias against Karen Read and her defense was extremely evident. Throughout the trial she was curt and cold to the likes of David Yannetti and Alan Jackson, Read’s main lawyers. Exasperated sighs could often be heard coming from the judge anytime the defense started to gain traction in tearing down Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally’s manufactured narratives.

Most memorable for me was her verbal showdown with Alan Jackson during the final days of the trial. Attorney Jackson did his best to appeal to Judge Cannone’s better nature when he pointed out that the juror instructions were vague and confusing as they deliberated over the verdict. Auntie Bev’s argument basically boiled down to “that’s the way we do things around here, so that’s the way its going to be.”

After a recess she decided she would provide clarity to the jurors. Perhaps she had been hangry. Have a Snickers, Auntie Bev.

The McAlberts

While the firsthand accounts from the Alberts and McCabes weren’t exactly riveting, watching Yannetti and Jackson catch them in their inconsistencies was.

What was infuriating was that while none of their timelines or narratives matched each other, nearly every principle McCabe and Albert quite obviously kept to a certain script.

I can clearly recall Brian Albert, Jennifer and Matthew McCabe, and Brian Higgins responding, “No, I wish I had,” when asked if they had seen John O’Keefe lying in the snow in the early morning hours of January 29, 2022. They each said it the exact same way, and in a seemingly forced manner. It was as if they had discussed with each other that they needed the perfect phrase to express regret over O’Keefe’s death while declaring their innocence.

While the McAlberts were a great source of courtroom drama, especially Jennifer McCabe and her fiery defiance, I don’t look forward having to hear an even more rehearsed and contrived version of events the second time around.

Outer Courtroom Drama

And probably the most enraging moments during the first trial weren’t what happened inside of the courtroom.

There were too many instances of “happenstance run-ins” between key players in the case. Words were exchanged, taunts were made, and protests were staged all to clearly get a rise out of Albers, McCabes, Proctors, Bukheniks, and others.

While these “chance meetings” may have made great vlogs and headlines, they really only served to further complicate an already extremely complex trial. I hope those individuals can refrain from making themselves a part of the story as it unfolds again.

Now that I’ve gotten all of that off of my chest, I feel I’m ready to face this redux with renewed gusto. I hope Read and her team are ready to do the same.