Skilled witness says O’Keefe’s deadly head harm got here from falling backwards

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Having trouble? Click here. John O'Keefe died from falling backwards and hitting his head on frozen floor, in response to a Yale-educated mind surgeon who testified Wednesday within the homicide trial of Karen Read .

Learn, 45, is accused of killing her then-boyfriend, the 46-year-old O'Keefe, by hitting him together with her 2021 Lexus SUV on Jan. 29, 2022, then leaving him to die on the bottom in a blizzard in Canton, Massachusetts, about 20 miles south of Boston.

The top trauma and cranium fractures he sustained, coupled with hypothermia from the chilly, wouldn't have killed him instantly, in response to Dr. Aizik Wolf, who testified he handled many comparable accidents in his profession working in Minneapolis.

"The one method he may get this sort of an harm was to fall backwards, hit the again of his head, after which the ensuing power forces going into his mind, into the bottom of his cranium," he advised the jury throughout questioning from particular prosecutor Hank Brennan.

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Mind surgeon Dr. Aizik Wolf testifies in regards to the accidents to John O'Keefe throughout Karen Learn's homicide trial in Norfolk Superior Court docket in Dedham, Mass., on Could 21, 2025. (Greg Derr/Patriot Ledger through AP/Pool)

O'Keefe suffered "a basic blunt-trauma harm," Wolf stated.

O'Keefe fell backwards and hit his head, Wolf stated, and the power of the impression fractured his cranium and later resulted in "raccoon eyes," which seem like black eyes.

"That is what occurs when smooth tissue hits a strong floor," he testified.

Swelling within the sufferer's mind would have killed him underneath regular circumstances, often inside 24 to 48 hours, in response to Wolf. Some victims have died in as little as one to 3.

Within the January nor'easter, O'Keefe's physique temperature additionally tanked. When paramedics discovered him at 6 a.m., his temperature was simply 80 levels, beneath the brink for what medical professionals name "extreme hypothermia."

Karen Learn, proper, and lawyer Elizabeth Little focus on developments throughout Learn's homicide trial on Could 21, 2025. (Greg Derr/Patriot Ledger through AP/Pool)

Wolf stated he handled many sufferers with comparable accidents early in his profession, when he labored in a Minneapolis trauma middle. The town will be brutally chilly throughout winter. Lots of the wounds have been deadly. Some have been inflicted on drunken sufferers who slipped on the ice. Others concerned individuals who fell over after struggling a coronary heart assault.

"This testimony from Dr. Wolf units up the commonwealth’s argument for rely 2, the involuntary manslaughter charge ," stated Grace Edwards, a Massachusetts protection legal professional who's following the case. "The commonwealth will argue to the jury that if they can't discover that Karen Learn precipitated John O’Keefe’s dying deliberately, counts 1 and three, then her driving or sideswipe of him after which leaving him injured was the wanton and reckless act, which contributed to his dying, then they need to discover Karen Learn responsible of rely 2."

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Karen Learn and John O'Keefe (Karen Learn)

Based on Wolf's bio at the Miami Neuroscience Middle, he's a world-leading authority in his area and the clinic's director.

A brief cross-examination by protection legal professional Robert Alessi mentioned separate accidents that O'Keefe sustained, which weren't linked to the pinnacle trauma that killed him.

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"I believed Legal professional Alessi did a great job redirecting Dr. Wolf from the again of the pinnacle to the entrance of the pinnacle and eliciting testimony that these accidents have been probably not from a fall," Edwards advised Fox Information Digital. "This helps the protection principle that John O’Keefe was not hit by a car and suggests it was one thing else due to the laceration to his face and the accidents to the arm, and the investigation didn't pursue every other results in decide how John O’Keefe sustained these accidents."

<source media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/05/931/523/karen-read-boston-ma-retrial-john-okeefe-day-20-10.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/05/1862/1046/karen-read-boston-ma-retrial-john-okeefe-day-20-10.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"> State police technician Christina Hanley discusses glass fragment proof throughout Karen Learn's trial on Could 21, 2025. (Greg Derr/Patriot Ledger through AP/Pool)

Wolf began the day on the stand. After his testimony, Christina Hanley of the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab returned to the witness stand. She is an professional on glass and plastic fragments who analyzed the damaged cocktail glass discovered outdoors 34 Fairview Highway and on the again bumper of Learn's Lexus SUV, in addition to items of the damaged taillight.

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Her testimony had been interrupted on the early finish of the day on Tuesday.

John O’Keefe (Boston Police Division)

She stated Wednesday afternoon that a number of the plastic particles recovered from O'Keefe's clothes was "constant" with the supplies utilized in Learn's Lexus however may have come from one other supply with comparable traits.

Throughout cross-examination, she revealed that not one of the damaged glass on Learn's bumper matched the shattered cocktail glass discovered within the yard close to O'Keefe.

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Protection legal professional Alan Jackson had her clarify that the one factor any of the bumper glass matched was a glass pattern recovered by former Trooper Michael Proctor, who was fired in March after an inner probe into inappropriate textual content messages he despatched in the course of the investigation.

Earlier within the trial, the protection performed video exhibiting Proctor standing close to the rear of the car, out of digital camera view, whereas it was on the Canton Police Division headquarters.

Proctor, by way of his household, has maintained that his investigation was in step with the proof and performed with integrity.

Learn may face life in jail if convicted of the highest cost, second-degree homicide. She can also be accused of drunken driving, manslaughter and leaving the scene of a lethal accident.