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Here’s a quick primer on some of the key witnesses who’ve testified so far in the high-profile trial.
Here’s how testimony unfolded Tuesday.
11:15 a.m. — The next voir dire witness is Dr. Andrew John Rentschler
Rentschler said he belongs to the American Society for Mechanical Engineers and the Society for Automotive Engineering. He said he has taken classes through the National Transportation Safety Board and other groups. Rentschler said he also has training in kinematics, the study of how the body moves, and has performed “a number of crash and sled tests” on vehicles.
”We put that dummy in the vehicle, and we evaluate the safety system,” Rentschler said. He has also “been involved in a number of studies” examining pedestrian crashes.
”It really all depends on how the person’s positioned” and the force of the impact, he said.
Rentschler said he has testified for prosecutors recently in criminal courts in Pennsylvania.
In the Read case, he said he reviewed a number of materials “to see if I could determine what happened, how the injuries occurred.”
Rentschler told Read lawyer Alan Jackson that his team made their report available to prosecutors and the defense.
Prosecutor Adam Lally asked if he had “any limitations” on his work in terms of confidentiality.
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Rentschler said he was “basically given the direction or the request that I don’t discuss” findings with anyone besides the federal authorities who retained his company.
Rentschler said his team’s opinion was issued in February.
He told Lally his primary role was conducting a biomechanical engineering analysis of O’Keefe’s injuries.
“There were specific requests that we were asked to perform,” Rentschler said.
He said part of his analysis was addressing whether O’Keefe was hit in the back of the head with a vehicle.
Judge Beverly Cannone asked what Rentschler was tasked to do specifically, and he said “part of that” was determining whether O’Keefe’s head and arm injuries could have been caused by a vehicle.
She also asked if he has testified previously in Massachusetts. He said he most recently testified in the state during a 2015 civil case and also testified in a civil case in 2012.
Rentschler then stepped down.
Adam Lally told Cannone that prosecutors are seeking information on what the ARCCA employees had done on the case. Lally said he has “an issue” with the specialists testifying to one of their four conclusions. Jackson said the experts are highly qualified to render their opinion that there’s “insufficient evidence to determine” the cause of O’Keefe’s skull and head injuries.
”It’s well within their purview to testify to that,” Jackson said.
Lally said he didn’t think “that was their actual opinion” about his injuries.
Cannone said she would decide Thursday about the proposed testimony. Court is closed Wednesday for the Juneteenth federal holiday. The trial will resume Thursday.
10:55 a.m. — The next voir dire witness is Daniel Wolfe
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Read’s defense team called Wolfe, an accident reconstruction specialist with a private company called ARCCA. He said he has examined a number of cases involving pedestrians struck by vehicles.
Wolfe said he does “a lot of nighttime visibility work” in the course of his duties, to see how well drivers could see a pedestrian.
Wolfe said he’s an accredited traffic accident reconstructionist who has testified in cases in multiple states.
He said he was not hired by the defense; legal filings have indicated that the FBI hired Wolfe to look into the Read case as part of a federal investigation into the state law enforcement handling of the matter. Lawyers are not allowed to mention that investigation at trial.
“Correct,” he said when Jackson asked if he wasn’t being paid by “either side in this courtroom.”
Wolfe said he and two colleagues reviewed the case.
Wolfe said he reviewed a number of documents, including law enforcement reports, photographs of the crime scene and Read’s SUV, data from the vehicle, and autopsy photographs.
Wolfe said he looked into primarily “the vehicle damage” while another colleague focused on O’Keefe’s injuries.
“We worked together,” Wolfe said.
Prosecutor Adam Lally asked Wolfe if he “personally” viewed all 14 items from the Read case provided to his company. Wolfe said that he did.
Lally asked if Wolfe was “asked very specific questions” and “tried to answer them” as best he could.
Wolfe said his firm received more of an “open-ended question” about the case.
Read’s lawyers have said that sealed court documents indicate Wolfe’s team found O’Keefe’s injuries were inconsistent with being struck by a vehicle.
Judge Beverly Cannone asked Wolfe “what specifically” he was asked to do.
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Wolfe told the judge he was asked, “was the evidence consistent” with O’Keefe being struck by a vehicle. He said the materials his firm received came from federal authorities.
“Did anybody specifically ask you to determine whether or not the injuries to the back of Mr. O’Keefe’s head could have been caused by a motor vehicle?” Lally asked.
“I don’t know that they asked us specifically,” Wolfe said.
“Did you see anything ... that suggested that the injuries, the fracture to the back of Mr. O’Keefe’s head was caused by a motor vehicle?” Lally asked.
“In terms of direct contact? No I don’t believe so,” Wolfe said.
10:45 a.m. — Lawyers argue about specialist’s testimony before judge
Prosecutor Adam Lally asked that Dr. Marie Russell be excluded from testifying on the grounds of a discovery violation, adding that it’s “concerning” that the doctor said she didn’t review the dog’s bite history or canine DNA findings that have been introduced in the case. Prosecutors previously called an expert who said there was no canine DNA found on swabs taken from O’Keefe’s right sleeve.
Lally said Russell “sort of pops up” in May and provided “limited information” on her opinion.
Read lawyer Alan Jackson said excluding a witness is a “dire, dire remedy” for a judge to issue. He said the defense “didn’t do anything wrong” in terms of discovery.
Jackson said witnesses for the prosecution have said O’Keefe’s arm injuries came from Read’s taillight.
“I just don’t think exclusion is appropriate,” he said.
Lally said that if Russell was allowed to testify, she could speak of the injuries she observed and “whatever consistencies” she sees with dog bites. He said she should not be able to testify about “inconsistencies” with the injuries being caused by a motor vehicle strike.
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Jackson said he has “no issue” with limiting her testimony “to the dog attack issue.”
Judge Beverly Cannone asked Jackson why the defense had said in court papers that Russell had reviewed the dog’s bite history and the DNA findings from the prosecution’s expert. Jackson said that information was provided to her and he assumed she had viewed it.
Cannone said he would allow prosecutors to find a rebuttal expert witness if Russell is permitted to testify.
Lally said it would take prosecutors “a week at the most” to find a rebuttal expert.
Cannone instructed Lally to start looking for one but stressed that she won’t know until Thursday whether Russell will be allowed to testify before the jury.
10:30 a.m. — Forensic specialist continues her voir dire testimony
Dr. Marie Russell told prosecutor Adam Lally on cross-examination that she’s not board-certified in any type of pathology. Russell said the defense first contacted her on May 17 about potentially testifying.
She said she requested a number of photographs and reports from the defense.
Russell told Lally her published articles on dog bites dealt with law enforcement canines involved in “bite and hold” techniques.
“Are they generally different from regular domestic dog bites?” he asked.
“Yes,” Russell said.
Asked if she wrote a report on her the findings in the Read case, she said she did not. Russell told Lally she reviewed O’Keefe’s head injury but would “rather defer” to pathologists “on that.”
She said she had heard “there was a controversy” over the wounds on O’Keefe’s right arm, “sometime just before May 17″ of this year.
She said she reached out to a prosecutor she used to work with in Los Angeles, who connected her with Jackson.
She said she was told the victim was a police officer, that Read “had been charged,” and that “there was a controversy about whether or not these injuries had been caused by a motor vehicle.”
Russell said she was also told O’Keefe was found outside in the snow and “hypothermic.”
She told Lally she reviewed the file from the medical examiner’s office but not witness statements or other investigatory materials.
Russell said she believed she first heard about the case in a Boston Globe headline that came across her email inbox.
“I looked into it,” she said.
Russell told Judge Beverly Cannone that the arm injuries were the result of a “large dog” attack and that she’s “very sure” to a “high degree of medical certainty.”
Cannone told Russell the court would let her know as soon as possible if she’ll be testifying before jurors.
9:45 a.m. — Witness offers preview testimony without jury present
Jurors are not present for testimony on Tuesday. Instead, Judge Beverly Cannone will hear voir dire testimony from proposed defense witnesses to determine whether she’ll allow them to testify before the jury.
The first witness slated to take the stand is Dr. Marie Russell, who would testify about the injuries on John O’Keefe’s right arm, according to court filings. The defense has alleged that a German shepherd mix may have attacked O’Keefe during a fight inside the Fairview Road home, where his body was found outside near the road.
Russell said she’s a retired emergency physician and forensic pathologist. She said she spent 29 years at Los Angeles General Medical Center and part of her job was determining the cause of injuries.
”I was interested in the forensic aspect of injuries,” Russell said.
She served as director of the hospital’s center for life support training. She told Read attorney Alan Jackson that she co-authored a medical article in the 1990s on “law enforcement dog bites,” as well as a second article covering the same topic. Russell said she has treated “many hundreds” of dog-bite victims.
Russell said she has testified in state and federal courts as an expert in forensic pathology.
Russell said she reviewed hospital photos of O’Keefe’s injuries as well as the autopsy report and photographs and grand jury testimony from the medical examiner. She said she also reviewed a toxicology report and a neuropathology report, as well as the hospital emergency room record of O’Keefe’s treatment.
”Those injuries appear to be consistent with an animal attack,” Russell said of the cuts on O’Keefe’s arm. “They are consistent with a large dog attack.”
She said she detected combinations of bite marks and scratches on the arm and puncture wounds on O’Keefe’s shirt. Russell said O’Keefe’s “parallel wounds” on his arm could have been caused by scratches or teeth.
Russell identified photographs of O’Keefe’s right arm with the cuts visible. One of the photos was placed on the monitor. Russell said there were “several patterns” to the cuts that pointed to an animal bite.
She said wounds by the elbow appear to be from upper and lower teeth, while additional “superficial wounds” are “consistent with teeth marks” and could also be consistent with claws. Russell said she noted an “unusual pattern” of at least four cuts by O’Keefe’s wrist that could have come from the front of a canine’s mouth.
Russell said she considered what else could have caused O’Keefe’s injuries.
”There were no significant major bodily injuries outside the head,” Russell said, adding that O’Keefe had no fractures.
She said she ruled out that O’Keefe had been struck by a vehicle “very quickly.”
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.
