The twentieth day of Karen Learn’s second trial started mysteriously, with Decide Beverly J. Cannone saying she must interview every juror one after the other this morning.
“Good morning, jurors. So an issue has come to my attention that it is going to make it necessary that I talk to each one of you individually over at sidebar with counsel,” Cannone stated on the prime of the day, which began about half-hour late, of Learn’s trial at Norfolk Superior Court docket in Dedham.
“That process will take a little while, so… Don’t speculate as to what I’m going to talk to you about. Please when you go back to the deliberation room, talk about anything but this case and I’ll see each of you individually,” she continued.
These watching from residence can be unable to observe or hear in as cameras can be shut off for this most likely prolonged scenario. Watch this web page for any updates.
Whereas the aim of the interviews was not said, retired state Superior Court docket Decide Jack Lu instructed the Herald he’s fairly positive what’s taking place.
“It is almost certainly a ‘voir dire’ of jurors to determine whether they know of, one, extraneous information … and, two, if yes, does it affect that jurors’ impartiality?” Lu, who now serves as a mediator and teaches regulation and prison justice as an adjunct professor at Boston Faculty, UMass Lowell, and New England Legislation amongst others, instructed the Herald.
“It makes Justice Cannone’s decision to impanel 18 (so many) look like a genius move. Justice Cannone anticipated this development ten times over,” he continued.
Earlier story
The Karen Learn trial moved on from the tense testimony of a prosecution digital forensics knowledgeable again to bodily proof. You’ll be able to watch court docket proceedings of retrial Day 20 within the video participant beneath.
Learn, 45, of Mansfield, faces fees together with second-degree homicide within the dying of John O’Keefe, a Boston Police officer who she had dated for roughly two years. She was tried final yr however that resulted in mistrial.
Prosecutors say Learn struck O’Keefe along with her Lexus LX570 SUV someday after midnight and left him to freeze and die on the entrance garden of 34 Fairview Street in Canton. The protection counters there was no car strike in any respect, that others killed O’Keefe and {that a} corrupt investigation framed Learn.
Most of Monday and Tuesday was spent with Aperture LLC digital forensics knowledgeable Shanon Burgess. He testified that in his evaluation the “back-up event” that prosecutors say brought about O’Keefe’s dying occurred at 12:32:04 to 12:32:12 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, although the method might have been longer because the car information occasions solely inside a selected “window” of seconds.
However a lot of his time on the bench was getting criticized by protection lawyer Robert Alessi for “academic dishonesty” — Burgess has a bachelor diploma listed on his CV, public firm profile and LinkedIn web page, however admits he hasn’t really earned the diploma but.
Tuesday ended with the start testimony of Christina Hanley, a forensic scientist with the Massachusetts State Police crime lab’s hint, arson and explosives unit.
She testified that she acquired a number of items of proof to carry out bodily match comparisons and a few instrumental evaluation. These objects have been a transparent glass cup and clear plastic and glass items discovered on the property, in addition to 5 items of clear glass from Learn’s bumper, all have been “broken” with “irregular edges.”
She was simply starting to testify to her evaluation when court docket ended for the day. She is anticipated to return right this moment.
This can be a creating story.
Picture By Matt Stone/Boston Herald
Forensic scientist from the Mass. State Police Crime Lab, Christina Hanley, testifies on the the Karen Learn trial Tuesday. (Picture By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)
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