Murphy: Questions don’t answer evidence

Give Karen Read supporters this much questions raised early on were worth asking Like why would Jen McCabe be awake at in the morning searching the internet for information about how long it takes for someone to die in the cold Turns out she searched at am after O Keefe s body was identified because Read sought her to How can a guy suffer a fatal head injury but no broken bones or injuries to his lower body after being hit by a car Not uncommon for sideswipe pedestrian collisions How can a human arm crack a taillight and suffer scratches Still a bit unsettled except we know the scratches were not from a dog because there was no dog DNA and the medicinal examiner stated the injuries were topical abrasions with no depth Preponderance importantly why would the feds open an inspection of a pending state murder study Utterly perplexing even in the present day though it did end with no finding of misconduct by anyone The first trial didn t exactly answer all these questions but it along with the prosecution s development thus far in the second trial did provide a solid pile of forensic proof that Karen Read dropped John O Keefe off in front of Fairview Ave he was located dead feet from where she dropped him off taillight pieces from Read s car were ascertained on John s clothing and strewn around the crime scene and John s DNA was ascertained on Read s car near the taillight If that were the only evidence it would be a lot But there s more including computer input from Read s car showing that right after she dropped O Keefe off she gunned her car backwards at miles per hour with the gas pedal at force before leaving the scene and driving back to O Keefe s house If this isn t enough to for you that s fine And if these facts don t answer all the questions about whether evidence was planted and whether cops behaved badly and acted overzealously because one of their own was killed that s fine too And if you think Read was overcharged I can see the argument It s fair to assume that extra efforts would be used to prosecute an accused cop-killer What s not fair is pointing the finger at innocent people in the name of due process Nothing in the Constitution says that a criminal s fair trial rights include the right to defame an innocent person by falsely claiming that they committed murder That stated this isn t the first time innocent people have been falsely accused because the law in this state is ridiculously generous to criminals to a point where judges in other states roll their eyes when lawyers cite Massachusetts law as a guiding principle For example defendants in this state are allowed to hire experts to lie and the defense can then whip the masses into a frenzy by promoting the lies It s not that there s a rule that says the defense can lie it s that there are no meaningful sanctions when they do If the prosecution or one of their experts lies a judge can suppress evidence and even dismiss charges as punishment remember Annie Dookhan This threat of sanctions works very well as a deterrent but it doesn t apply to the defense No matter how unfair or even unethical the conduct of a defense attorney a judge cannot suppress evidence or punish the defendant The Supreme Judicial Court made this clear years ago in a episode where a trial judge excluded evidence favorable to the defendant because the lawyers violated the rules of discovery The state s highest court reversed that decision on the grounds that the rights of the accused are more essential than the deterrence of defense misconduct The judge in the Read event Beverly Cannone was obviously aware of this when she in recent days ruled that evidence helpful to Read would not be suppressed even though the defense violated the rules So Read will be able to use every piece of relevant evidence that could possibly help her event but she has a big matter named Hank Brennan He is a highly skilled defense attorney serving as a prosecutor just for this scenario and he knows all the tricks Even worse for Read she has made too multiple damning community statements that are devastating to her occurrence and Brennan used all of them brilliantly The defense does have particular helpful evidence like disgusting texts sent by the state trooper in charge of her situation to a group of his buddies Read also has in her favor the fact that Brian Higgins an ATF agent friend of O Keefe s threw his phone away in a very suspicious manner after Read kissed him and they engaged in sexual banter with by phone But these sideshows do nothing to diminish the physical and forensic evidence The jury can t help but see this occurrence as a straightforward drunk driving hit-and-run homicide So the real issue is whether jurors see a murderer in Karen Read The greater part people are uncomfortable thinking that an educated white woman from suburban Massachusetts could be a killer But if the jurors in this scenario can get over that discomfort Karen Read could soon be doing a mandatory years for second degree murder Even the lesser charge is mandatory five Either way Read will have a long time behind bars to contemplate whether the circus was worth it