Karen Read trial nears end with defense expert challenging vehicle strike theory

Karen Read’s defense saved her strongest witness for last, experts tell Fox News Digital, bringing in Dr. Andrew Rentschler to try to debunk the prosecution’s claims about how her boyfriend, Boston cop John O’Keefe, died.

Jurors have the day off Thursday and will begin deliberations after receiving instructions from the judge and listening to closing arguments Friday.

Read, 45, is accused of hitting O’Keefe, 46, with her 2021 Lexus LX 570 SUV on Jan. 29, 2022, and leaving him to die on the ground with a skull fracture during a blizzard.

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Her defense denies that her vehicle ever struck O’Keefe, and Rentschler spent two days on the stand explaining how he came to the conclusion that O’Keefe’s injuries were inconsistent with a vehicle strike on a pedestrian.

“I do not believe that injury is consistent with being struck by an SUV at approximately 24 miles an hour,” he testified.

O’Keefe had no broken bones on his right arm, only superficial abrasions, he testified. Based on his testing at ARCCA, a crash reconstruction firm, he said that the arm should have sustained more serious damage.

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Rentschler said he did not believe Read’s SUV could have struck O’Keefe based on his injuries and ARCCA testing.

But special prosecutor Hank Brennan grilled him on cross-examination, questioning how thorough his testing was and forcing him to concede that he did not take into account shattered pieces of taillight on the ground near O’Keefe and embedded in his clothes.

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“The prosecutor will definitely zero-in on this in closing,” said David Gelman, a Philadelphia-area criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor. “The closings will be key for both parties now. Brennan and [defense attorney Alan] Jackson are both strong personalities, so this is going to be big.”

Brennan also revealed Wednesday afternoon that he will not call a rebuttal witness to the stand before the case goes to jurors.

In what could boil down to a so-called battle of the experts, legal analysts say Rentschler was a solid choice to close out the case.

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“He methodically explained why the DA’s theory of an SUV-pedestrian strike doesn’t hold up,” said Mark Bederow, the New York City-based attorney representing Read ally and Canton blogger Aidan Kearney. “The lack of arm injuries, the lack of holes in the hoodie, which doesn’t come close to corresponding with the amount abrasions, the final location of John O’Keefe not making sense.”

He argued that Rentschler’s showing could have prompted Brennan to “wave the white flag” rather than call Dr. Judson Welcher back to the stand for rebuttal.

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Welcher drew the opposite conclusion from Rentschler – testifying that in his opinion, Read’s SUV clipped O’Keefe with a glancing blow, knocking him off-balance before he fell and cracked his skull.

“The defense could not have finished the trial any stronger than they did,” Bederow said.

Jack Lu, a retired Massachusetts judge and Boston College law professor, said having Rentschler go last was both a standard strategy and a good one.

“What stood out is that he was steadfast that Dr. Welcher’s testimony about simulating the contact was fallacious. Counterpoint: so was Rentschler’s,” Lu told Fox News Digital.

He said both are part of a profit-based consulting industry and at points, their testing came across as absurd.

“You have a disembodied arm hitting a Lexus, versus a grease-painted expert getting hit at low speed by a Lexus,” he said.

Cannone gave jurors the day off Thursday so the sides can hold a charging conference. The panel returns Friday for jury instructions and closing arguments.