DEDHAM – For the first time since testimony began, swearers in Karen Read’s Massachusetts murder trials are set to hear from a witness with close connections to Brian Albert’s Canton home, the place where Boston police officer John O’Keefe died in the snow.
Chris Albert, a current member of the Canton Board of Selectmen, is scheduled to take the stand on Thursday. He is the brother of Boston police officer Brian Albert, who owned the home where O’Keefe’s body was found in 2022.
You can watch testimony when it begins on CBS News Boston by clicking on the video player above.
The trial is being held inside Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts.
Who is Karen Read?
Read, 45, is a Massachusetts woman who is facing charges that include second-degree murdermanslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of personal injury and death
Read pleaded not guilty to the charges and argues she is being framed as part of a coverup by several people, including law enforcement.
Prosecutors say Read hit Boston police officer O’Keefe with his SUV after a night of drinking and left him to die in the snow. Read and O’Keefe were dating at the time of his death.
Chris Albert set to take the stand
Read’s defense attorneys say the Albert family is at the center of an alleged effort to frame Read.
Chris and Brian Albert were at Waterfall Bar & Grille in Canton with a group of people that included Read and O’Keefe on January 28, 2022. Hours later, O’Keefe’s body was found in the yard of Brian Albert’s 34 Fairview Road home. Prosecutors say Read hit him with his SUV and left him to die.
Defense attorneys argue that Read did not hit O’Keefe. Instead, they say he was killed during a fight inside Brian Albert’s home and dragged outside.
On Wednesday, Read’s defense showed video from inside Waterfall. Brian Albert and ATF agent Brian Higgins could be seen apparently play-fighting before the after party.
“It speaks for itself,” Read’s attorney Alan Jackson said outside on Wednesday. “Two guys grappling, sparring, looking like they’re fighting. Practicing fighting techniques. You tell me.”
CBS Boston
Previous testimony about Chris Albert
Earlier in the week Canton Police Sgt. Michael Lank, who investigated O’Keefe’s death, was questioned about an off-duty 2002 incident.
Lank intervened in a fight on behalf of Chris Albert. No one was arrested that night, but a day later one of the men involved sought a complaint against Lank at the Canton Police Department. That’s when charges were filed against two brothers for their role in the fight.
Chris Albert was never charged. He was elected to the Canton Board of Selectment in 2023.
Lank was asked during his testimony what “relevance or factor” the 2002 incident had on how he handled his response to O’Keefe’s death.
“Absolutely nothing,” Lank said.
Matt Schooley
Matt Schooley is a digital producer at CBS Boston. He has been a member of the WBZ news team for the last decade.
