Jurors within the homicide trial of Karen Learn started deliberations and not using a verdict Friday after weeks of testimony in a extremely divisive case through which the prosecution’s concept of jaded love turned lethal was countered by a protection declare {that a} solid of tight-knit Boston-area legislation enforcement killed a fellow police officer.
Learn, 45, is accused of fatally hanging her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, 46, along with her SUV and leaving him to die within the snow outdoors a home get together the place different native police and a federal agent have been closing out an evening of consuming in 2022. She’s charged with second-degree homicide, manslaughter and leaving the scene. If convicted on probably the most critical cost, she faces life in jail.
Jurors went residence for the weekend and can resume on Monday.
Learn’s protection stated O’Keefe was crushed, bitten by a canine, then left outdoors a house within the Boston suburb of Canton in a conspiracy orchestrated by the police that included planting proof.
The primary Learn trial ended July 1 in a mistrial resulting from a hung jury.
Prosecution has centered on the scene of dying
The state’s case was led by particular prosecutor Hank Brennan, who known as fewer witnesses than prosecutor Adam Lally, who ran the primary trial in opposition to Learn.
Describing O’Keefe as a “good man” who “helped individuals,” Brennan on Friday stated O’Keefe wanted assist that night time and the one one that might assist — name 911 or knock on a door — was Learn. As an alternative, she drove away in her SUV.
“She was drunk. She hit him and she or he left him to die,” he stated, repeating the phrase twice.
Brennan once more referenced Learn’s assertion concerning the chance that she backed into O’Keefe, which the protection has identified got here not from police studies however from a voluntary interview she did for a documentary sequence. Within the tv interview, Learn stated, “I didn’t assume I hit him,” however acknowledged she might have “clipped him.”
He bolstered that with the testimony from first responders, a number of of whom heard Learn say, “I hit him,” a number of instances.
“She is now coming to phrases with the second. Her concern is realized,” he advised jurors when she uttered these phrases. “She is dealing with the fact of what she had completed. Her feelings are overwhelming.”
Brennan then performed a video clip through which Learn questioned whether or not she stated, “I hit him,” so many instances on the scene, phrases that he stated validate what the primary responders heard.
Particular prosecutor Hank Brennan delivered his closing argument Friday within the Karen Learn homicide trial. Here is what he needed to say.
Within the first trial, the state known as Michael Proctor, a Massachusetts state trooper who was the lead investigator within the case. Proctor was later fired after a disciplinary board discovered he despatched sexist and crude textual content messages about Learn to his associates, household and associates. Prosecutors by no means known as Proctor, however he was referenced repeatedly by attorneys throughout the trial.
“I am not saying you shouldn’t be disgusted by the textual content messages. It is best to. They don’t seem to be defensible,” Brennan stated. “I don’t stand right here and defend impropriety. I don’t. However that doesn’t change the bodily proof, the scientific proof and the info.”
The proof and information Brennan repeatedly referenced included a damaged cocktail glass that O’Keefe was holding after he obtained out of the SUV and items of Learn’s broke rear taillight from the scene.
Brennan additionally stated the info on Learn’s Lexus SUX proved she reversed the automobile and accelerated after dropping O’Keefe on the get together. She was drunk, he stated, and the pair had argued on the way in which to the get together which had added gas to an already “poisonous” and “crumbling” relationship.
Protection raises a mountain of doubt
Protection legal professional Alan Jackson started his closing argument by repeating thrice: “There was no collision.”
“There is no such thing as a proof that John was hit by a automobile. None. This case needs to be over proper now, completed, as a result of there was no collision,” he stated.
Jackson advised the jury that Learn is an harmless lady victimized by a police cover-up through which legislation enforcement officers led by ringleader Proctor sought to guard their very own and obscure the actual killer. He stated items of taillight have been planted. And he and zeroed in on federal agent Brian Higgins, who exchanged flirtatious textual content messages with Learn, main the protection to query if that led to a deadly confrontation. Higgins was current on the get together.
“What occurred inside that home, that basement or that storage? What proof was there for investigators to look into? What did they ignore?” Jackson requested, noting the “apparent canine bites” on O’Keefe’s arm and the top damage from his falling backward onto a tough floor.
“There was no collision. There was no collision. There was no collision,” protection legal professional Alan Jackson stated as he kicked off his closing argument Friday within the Karen Learn homicide trial.
Jackson additionally dismissed the witnesses who heard Learn declare she “hit” O’Keefe on the scene. “It wasn’t a confession. It was confusion,” stated Jackson, noting that it was regular to ask these sorts of questions when somebody is experiencing grief or in shock.
Jackson additionally argued the state had failed to point out how Learn might have hit O’Keefe along with her SUV — insisting they admitted not figuring out how Learn hit him and exhibiting a crash simulation of a dummy being hit however admitting they weren’t certain the place O’Keefe was standing. The protection additionally argued Learn’s taillight was broken when she backed out of O’Keefe home and hit his automobile, not when she hit him.
“The reality is Karen Learn is just not responsible not due to technicalities however as a result of the information, the legislation, the science, the physics, the info all of them say so. They demand it,” Jackson stated. “The Commonwealth doesn’t have a concept about how John was hit by the automobile. They haven’t even proven you that it’s doable he was hit by a automobile.”
On the finish of courtroom Friday, a supporter handed Jackson a bouquet of pink flowers for Learn, and he gave it to her once they obtained in a automobile. As she left, Learn advised reporters, “We’ve completed every part we are able to.”
