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Karen Learn’s protection group’s choice to not name her to the witness stand is a chance that might assist or hinder her case after the prosecution performed her damaging interview clips in her second homicide trial – permitting the jury to listen to Learn’s model of occasions in her personal phrases.
Learn is dealing with the potential of life in jail for the alleged homicide of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe. The prosecution claims Learn struck O’Keefe together with her Lexus SUV in a drunken argument, leaving him to freeze to dying within the entrance yard of a good friend’s home get together shortly after midnight on Jan. 29, 2022.
Learn’s protection group insists her automobile by no means made contact with O’Keefe and there was no collision.
“Once I first got here to apply, it was ‘by no means put your shopper on stand, ever,’” New York Metropolis protection legal professional Louis Gelormino advised Fox Information Digital. “However I are likely to disagree with that generally. I believe we now have gotten our largest wins after we put our shopper on the stand.”
KAREN READ’S TRUE-CRIME DOCUMENTARIES MAY IMPACT SECOND TRIAL: COURT DOCS
Karen Learn walks with considered one of her attorneys, Alan Jackson, throughout her trial Tuesday, Could 27, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Matt Stone/The Boston Herald through AP, Pool)
On Tuesday, the protection submitted the group’s proposed jury directions that point out Learn is not going to take the stand in her trial.
“As you already know, Ms. Learn didn’t testify at this trial,” the directions learn. “You could not maintain that towards her. Ms. Learn has an absolute proper to not testify as a result of, as I’ve defined, she is presumed to be harmless and doesn’t need to do something to persuade you she is harmless.”
The directions stress that the explanation Learn selected to not take the witness stand shouldn’t be related to the jury’s deliberations and can’t be thought of proof in her trial. Authorized specialists inform Fox Information Digital the selection to maintain a defendant from talking might not all the time be the only option.
KAREN READ, ACCUSED KILLER OF COP BOYFRIEND, SHOWED NO EMOTION UNTIL JURY DELIBERATIONS: DOCUMENTARY
Karen Learn and John O’Keefe pose for an undated {photograph}. (Karen Learn)
Gelormino stated he believes Learn would placed on a robust efficiency on the witness stand, however calling her to testify doesn’t come with out dangers.
“I believe the explanation they’re hiding her is as a result of they do not wish to need to have her clarify all these movies that they noticed of her not performing in a great way,” Gelormino stated.
KAREN READ JUDGE BLOCKS SANDRA BIRCHMORE MENTIONS; EXPERT SAYS CASES SHOULD BE WAKE-UP CALL FOR POLICE
Karen Learn talks together with her attorneys Robert Alessi and David Yannetti throughout her trial at Norfolk Superior Courtroom, Tuesday, Could 6, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Matt Stone/The Boston Herald through AP, Pool)
Particular prosecutor Hank Brennan performed quite a few clips from Learn’s televised interviews, choosing out clips that might probably injury the protection.
“I additionally surprise, did I say, ‘may I’ve hit him,’” Learn stated in a 2024 interview with Investigation Discovery. “Or was it advised to me that I stated I hit him. And I knew I by no means may’ve stated that, so the closest factor I need to’ve stated was, ‘did I hit him?’”
Within the clip, Learn questions if she “actually (stated) it as many occasions as legislation enforcement is claiming.”
KAREN READ DEFENSE FLOATS THEORY THAT ‘JEALOUS’ BRIAN HIGGINS FOUGHT JOHN O’KEEFE BEFORE DEATH
WATCH: Karen Learn offers firsthand account of night time earlier than John O’Keefe’s dying
In one other clip, she talked about spiking her personal drinks with further pictures as a result of they weren’t sturdy sufficient.
Gelormino stated the protection group doubtless doesn’t need Learn to be confronted about her statements on cross-examination, probably opening the door for days of tense questioning from the state.
“They do not wish to have her explaining all of those misbehaviors or what individuals would assume can be dangerous conduct,” Gelormino stated.
However the option to maintain Learn off the stand may probably maintain her from offering an evidence for her statements within the interviews whereas additionally clarifying her facet of the story.
LEAD DETECTIVE’S TEXT MESSAGES CAST SHADOW OVER KAREN READ MURDER TRIAL
Prosecutor Hank Brennan questions a witness through the Karen Learn homicide trial at Norfolk Superior Courtroom, Tuesday, Could 27, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Matt Stone/The Boston Herald through AP, Pool)
“There are two sides of each coin,” Gelormino advised Fox Information Digital. “You would put her on and attempt to have her clarify it, or you possibly can keep away from it altogether.”
Gelormino pointed to the fact that Learn may seem defensive whereas providing an evidence for her on-camera tales, which may shift the jury’s notion of her character.
“As a protection legal professional, you’re going to have to wash that up,” Gelormino stated. “So you’re going to be spending a number of time defending your character there.”
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Karen Learn arrives at courtroom on day 22 of the Karen Learn homicide trial at Norfolk Superior Courtroom in Dedham, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, Could 28, 2025. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK through Imagn Photos)
The movies pose a brand new impediment for the protection, since they weren’t performed in Learn’s first trial final yr.
“The primary jury nearly convicted Learn of manslaughter whereas working underneath the affect,” retired Massachusetts Superior Courtroom Choose and Boston School legislation professor Jack Lu advised Fox Information Digital. “That was with no defendant video statements. Right here, we now have many damaging statements, and possibly a couple of extra in rebuttal.”
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Lu stated the protection has not tried to handle the video clips or present context relating to Learn’s model of occasions at this level within the trial.
“So, the identical trial plus the damaging video, the place the jury nearly convicted, is dangerous for the protection,” Lu stated.
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Because the protection continues calling witnesses, the notable absence of Learn’s personal testimony will doubtless solely be totally felt as soon as the jury reads its verdict, with the prosecution performing as the one facet that opted to incorporate her personal phrases within the courtroom.
“Based mostly on the truth that that they had a hung jury the final time, (the protection has) an honest case,” Gelormino advised Fox Information Digital. “So do you wish to mess that up with having her defend her actions and character for the subsequent two or three days on the stand? That is a troublesome choice.”
