Jurors in the murder trial of Karen Read returned to the courtroom Monday for a full day of testimony, with extended hours, as the prosecution turned to physical forensic evidence in the case. The jury had been on break since last week, when they heard from medical experts about Read’s level of...
www.necn.com
<snip>
Forensic scientist testifies
The day's second witness was Maureen Hartnett, a forensic scientist with the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory. She testified about an error she once made identifying a hair, and how that led to her prior work being examined and additional training.
She said she has probably been involved in over 1,000 criminal investigations in her time with the crime lab.
Hartnett testified that she reported to the Canton Police Department on Feb. 1, 2022, where she was asked to examine Read's SUV. She testified that she noted there was damage to the rear passenger side area of the vehicle.
She said there was a dent in the trunk door, scratches on the rear bumper and a broken taillight. She also said she saw an "apparent hair" on a rear quarter-panel of the SUV and some pieces of "apparent glass" on the rear bumper.
"At that time, I noted it was an apparent hair beause I had not done any microscopic examination of the hair," Hartnett said.
Later, back at the lab, she said she did conduct a microscopic examination of the hair.
Hartnett also performed blood screening on the undercarriage of the vehicle, the bumper and rear tires, but found nothing. She said she collected the apparent glass and several paint standards, the taillight housing and the apparent hair.
She also said she was presented with a broken drinking glass she was told was found at the scene, along with some red Solo cups with frozen red-brown stains inside.
Hartnett testified about the testing she conducted on the hair found on the rear of the SUV, and what she found.
"I determined the hair was consistent with a human hair with a root," she said.
Hartnett said she doesn't know what part of the body the hair came from.
She also testified about tests she performed on the sweatshirt that O'Keefe was wearing on the day he died. The jury was shown several closeups of the sweatshirt from different angles.
She said the sweatshirt had numerous red-brown stains in several areas, and she conducted blood tests on those stains.
Hartnett was still on the stand at 1 p.m., when the courtroom broke for lunch. Testimony resumed around 1:30 p.m.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson began cross-examining Hartnett just before 2 p.m. He asked who it was that dispatched her to the Canton Police Department on Feb. 1, 2022, and she said it was Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor.
Proctor, the lead investigator,
is under investigation by state police for a potential violation of department policy in connection with the Read case.
Jackson also showed Hartnett a photo of O'Keefe's right arm, which is covered with scratches of some sort. He asked if she noticed anything underneath Read's SUV that could have caused that injury. She said she made no conclusions of that sort at that time, noting that she is not an expert in that area.
She added that the underside of the SUV, including the tire flaps, screened negative for blood.
Jackson also asked Hartnett about the red Solo cups with blood evidence inside, asking if they were in any way labeled.
She said she did not notice them being labeled in any way.
Hartnett said she took two swabs from just one of the Solo cups, assuming they were all related. The rest of the blood evidence was left with Canton police.
"It was my understanding they were all taken from the same stain," she said.
No DNA testing was ever done on the blood swab, Hartnett said.
She also testified about the "apparent hair" she found on the back of the SUV. She said it was not affixed to the vehicle in any way. It was just on the vehicle.
Jackson pointed out that the vehicle would have had to have made a 60-mile trip with the hair affixed to it, in the middle of a blizzard.
