Karen Read trial reveals flirty text messages with ATF agent behind boyfriend's back

Legal experts are handing Karen Read's defense organization the win for Friday's heated cross-examination of Massachusetts State Police Sgt Yuri Bukhenik who returned for his second day on the stand as prosecutors look to convince the jury that Read fatally struck her boyfriend Boston cop John O'Keefe and left him to die in a blizzard in January During hours of cross-examination from defense attorney Alan Jackson the homicide investigator was requested to read a long string of text messages exchanged between Read and Brian Higgins a Canton-based ATF agent with whom she was flirting behind O Keefe s back Having Bukhenik read the texts allows the defense to introduce hearsay statements into the situation according to Grace Edwards a Massachusetts defense attorney who is following the event closely They also raise questions about the integrity of the scrutiny something the defense has aimed to discredit entirely STATE TROOPER POINTS TO VIABLE WEAPON IN JOHN O'KEEFE DEATH AND IT'S NOT KAREN READ'S CAR They are being entered not for the truth of what is contained in them but to show that they existed she recounted Fox News Digital That is essential because the defense wants to be able to argue that these messages existed and did or did not the examination consider them as a lead Wouldn t the knowledge of a romantic flirtation between Karen Read and Brian Higgins create the possibility of conflict between Brian Higgins and John O Keefe She disclosed that both sides performed well Friday and credited Hank Brennan the special prosecutor brought in to handle Read's retrial with devising a new strategy after the first trial ended in a mistrial But she commented the defense won out slightly Great lawyering on both sides at present Hank Brennan s new trial strategy indicates he won t need to call upon Brian Albert or Brian Higgins or Michael Proctor she disclosed They have stretched the witness to the max the last minimal days Alan Jackson appears to have worn the witness down and there was damaging testimony regarding the handling of evidence Overall I felt the defense achieved more of their goals in the modern day KAREN READ'S GOOGLE TIMELINE DERAILED AGAIN AS ND EXPERT DISPUTES DEFENSE CLAIMSSgt Bukhenik spent hours on the stand Friday reading through flirty text messages between Read and Brian Higgins an ATF agent and expected love interest whom she contacted behind O Keefe s back The Ukraine native who immigrated to the U S when he was nine and joined the Marine Corps after often sparred with Jackson about semantics asking for a copy of Webster's Dictionary at one point telling the court that English was his third language Frequent objections from the special prosecutor Hank Brennan also interrupted the proceedings as Judge Beverly Cannone repeatedly called the sides to the bench for off-camera discussions At one point Jackson replayed video shown earlier of Read backing out of O Keefe s garage the morning he was discovered dead The defense clip included a layover of a box with a zoomed-in view of O Keefe s car which was parked outside It appeared to bounce in place as Read neared it with her rear bumper the same one later unveiled with a broken taillight The prosecution looks like it's trying to hide the truth with all objections explained Linda Kenney Baden a prominent East Coast defense attorney who is closely following the affair on her Justice Served podcast KAREN READ TRIAL CANTON COP EXPLAINS USING LEAF BLOWER RED SOLO CUPS STOP SHOP BAG FOR EVIDENCEAnother damning moment she commented was when Bukhenik admitted that no pieces of Read's broken taillight were recovered until after her automobile - the alleged murder weapon was parked inside the sallyport at Canton Police Headquarters But she reported it was Bukhenik's responses to Jackson that may have turned off jurors calling the day a win for the defense In the texts Read now discussed her relationship struggles repeatedly mentioning that she was not married and referred to herself as single despite as Higgins wrote having a live in boyfriend They discussed finding each other hot a kiss they shared outside O Keefe s house heavy drinking and danced around laying out their intentions for one another KAREN READ'S GOOGLE TIMELINE DERAILED AGAIN AS ND EXPERT DISPUTES DEFENSE SUGGESTS Are you current up or staying together Higgins solicited at one point about Read and O'Keefe I don t know Read replied He hooked up with another girl on vacation I am very close to his niece It s a very f----- up situation Higgins repeatedly appealed Read for clarity about her intentions although they both disclosed they uncovered each other attractive and traded invites to one another's homes Ok so he is cool with you dating other people Higgins inquired in another exchange I doubt it Read wrote If he is seeing someone else I wouldn t want to know either way He allegedly feels the same And you likely feel that way about whoever you hook up with I think that s normal Higgins was present at the Waterfall Bar and Grille with Read O Keefe and others before the whole group went to the nearby home of Brian Albert a fellow Boston police officer who is also close friends with Higgins Read has claimed she dropped O Keefe off saw him go inside and left Prosecutors allege that she hit him with the rear end of the Lexus SUV and left him to die on the ground Read had pleaded not guilty to charges of murder manslaughter and fleeing the scene Her defense denied that a collision happened at all and insists his fatal injuries were inflicted in various other way - possibly a fight with one or more people at the after-party Read s first trial in which she claimed she was being framed by a group of law enforcement with ties to Albert and his family ended with a deadlocked jury and a mistrial Special prosecutor Hank Brennan a prominent Massachusetts defense attorney who previously represented Whitey Bulger was brought in to take over the reins from Assistant Norfolk County District Attorney Adam Lally who is still part of the prosecution squad While Read has noted that whether she will testify in her own defense remains to be determined Brennan sought and obtained video interviews that Read had given to various TV outlets and documentarians and has been playing clips in court for the jury KAREN READ'S GOOGLE TIMELINE DERAILED AGAIN AS ND EXPERT DISPUTES DEFENSE CLAIMSIn the texts Higgins reported Read he wasn't interested in drama but continued the two-way flirting until she sent a chilling text to him around noon on Jan John died she wrote Just hours earlier while she was out drinking with O'Keefe about an hour before the end of his life Higgins sent two texts to her that went unanswered around p m on Jan Lawyers for both parties also agreed in court that at a m the following morning Higgins also texted O'Keefe You coming here Earlier Jackson also grilled Bukhenik over how evidence was handled in the situation Bukhenik testified that no taillight fragments had been recovered until after Read's SUV was in state police custody He couldn't say which officer had filled out an evidence bag under his name and didn't remember whom he had given the unsigned evidence to Jackson petitioned him whether he was aware that more than a dozen reports in the matter weren't written until more than days after the events that they were supposed to memorialize had taken place He announced he was not GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUBPolice eyewitnesses may be hurting the affair due to missteps that shouldn't have happened had routine protocols been followed according to Joseph Giacalone a former NYPD cold incident investigator and an adjunct crminal justice professor at Penn State Lehigh Valley A tie goes to the defense he revealed of Friday's testimony The Massachusetts State Police have a major matter on their hands The MSP fired former Trooper Michael Proctor who was a lead investigator in the event after his testimony during the first trial revealed unprofessional text messages he had sent regarding Read He could testify when the defense presents its scenario later in the trial FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME BAND ON XLocal police also testified that they used red Solo cups and a grocery bag to collect evidence removed snow with a leafblower and continued to be involved on the outskirts of the development despite a conflict of interest one of their detectives is Brian Albert's brother The prosecution is going to go home this weekend and reevaluate things because this week couldn t have been worse revealed David Gelman a former prosecutor and Philadelphia-area defense attorney who is following the affair He previously narrated Fox News Digital he was surprised the commonwealth even moved forward with a new trial after the first matter fell apart On the other hand digital evidence has not supported defense contends Two experts have testified that Albert's sister-in-law Jennifer McCabe made a key Google search about hypothermia shortly after Read and two other women exposed O'Keefe unresponsive in the snow not hours earlier before anyone should have known he was dead as the defense has claimed And reading the texts in court could be a double-edged sword noted Paul Mauro a former NYPD inspector Did Higgins have a reason to get into an altercation with O'Keefe Or do they paint Read as manipulative and untruthful