Pure evil.
Should he have talked about-
making his wife coffee?
searching for porn?
shooting off into outer space?
Being normal moms?
The ice cream truck?
Fuck off Beverly.
I'm kind of tired of hearing the "Karen Read sucks as a person, but she's still innocent" takes. I've had a lot of conversations with her in the last 2 years, and although she's far from perfect, she's actually a very down to earth and relatable person. She's extremely intelligent and an incredibly hard worker, which is why she graduated from Bentley in just 3 years. She was very successful, helped out a lot with John's kids, and was loved by them for that. It would be such a waste for a person like this to be put in jail for a crime they didn't commit.
Meanwhile, the people who actually killed John O'Keefe bring no value to our society. Jen McCabe hasn't had a job in more than a decade. Chris Albert killed a man and doesn't pay his taxes. Brian Higgins is a narcissist who refers to himself as a "decorated dude." Brian Albert is despised by the vast majority of the Boston Police Department who have ever dealt with him. Colin Albert will NEVER contribute anything of value to society, and has been raised to be entitled and treat other people like trash.
We shouldn't even know what kind of person Karen Read is, because she shouldn't have been indicted in the first place. But she is much more likable than everyone else involved in this shitshow.
Marie Russell, M.D. is "single-handedly developing a new field of what you call clinical forensic medicine,” said former Los Angeles County's chief medical examiner Thomas Noguchi, known as 'coroner to the stars,' to the Los Angeles Times. “We only have one Marie Russell, but we need at least a thousand such persons to serve major communities.”
Dr. Russell is a trailblazing, first-of-her-kind Boston Police Academy graduate and former Madlen police officer who attended M.I.T. and UMass School of Medicine. She went on to become an emergency medicine and trauma physician, and a forensic pathologist of the highest order, who has published peer-reviewed treatises on several topics (including the forensic pathology of dog bite wounds) and has lectured across the country as part of her long and distinguished career.
So why are Norfolk County Special Assistant District Attorney Henry B. Brennan, and our old pal, ADA Adam 'second chair' Lally, trying to convince Judge Beverly Cannone that Dr. Russell is at best, incompetent and at worst, a liar? That she is undeserving of the same obsequious deference Judge C affords such scientific luminaries as the brilliant physicist, Tpr. Joseph Paul, or perhaps Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik, that polymath, know-it-all maven of yellow duckies, striptease, and door-knock intimidation?
It's because Karen Read's defense team will call on Dr. Russell at trial to explain to jurors, to the degree of certainty demanded by the law, how Ofc. John O'Keefe was brutally beaten by somebody at 34 Fairview Road, violently attacked by a ferocious dog, and left in the snow to die. That's something Norfolk County DA Michael Morrissey doesn't want us to hear (even though he probably knows it's true). So Morrissey has sicced Hired Hand Hank on Dr. Russell with instructions to publicly ridicule and demean her. And Brennan is obliging. He did what you saw on Thursday afternoon simply to try to rattle and intimidate Dr. Russell, not for any legitimate exercise of prosecutorial discretion.
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Dr. Russell's career has not been devoted to being a 'Professional Witness'. Rather, she is a thoroughly experienced, practicing physician of the highest order. She is not the sort who seeks 'clients' and hires herself out to the highest bidder. After all, she has patients to consult and lives to save. She's a 'real' doctor of considerable esteem, but not the sort who goes about loudly proclaiming herself as such.
Dr. Russell says she came upon the Karen Read case because she saw the same thing hundreds of thousands - perhaps millions - can see with their own eyes: Ofc. O'Keefe's arm wounds were caused by a dog attack, and Ms. Read is being framed by the most vile, malevolent characters ever to pretend to be acting in the 'public's interest'.
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In 1903, George Bernard Shaw coined the oft-mimicked phrase, “Those who can, do; those who can’t teach”. An apt corollary here might read, "Those who can, do; those who can't become Professional Witnesses."
Look at one of the Commonwealth's so-called experts, Shanon Burgess, for example. Mr. Burgess has no specialized training in accident reconstruction, other than a seminar or two. He's never been a hands-on automobile technician skilled in assessing or retrieving Toyota TechStream data. He has no higher education relevant to his purposed expertise. Instead, he's the prototypical Professional Witness. His career is not dedicated to service, like Dr. Russell. He is not sought by his peers for his skill, like Dr. Russell. Instead, Mr. Burgess raised his hand and was plucked from social media for no other reason than his apparent willingness to accept money in return for reading a script prepared in somebody else's words. His skill and experience - if any - seem secondary.
Mr. Burgess does have one distinct advantage over Dr. Russell. He's part of the burgeoning Professional Witness cottage industry. Perusal of the titles available on Amazon reveals dozens of books with titles such as, "How to Become a Successful Expert Witness" or "A Fulfilling Career as an Expert Witness." Mr. Burgess seems to spend his time immersed in publications such as these, with a focus solely on his own self advancement. Dr. Russell, by contrast, spends her time reading and editing medical treatises, with her focus on bettering the lives of others.
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Seminars and publications marketed to Professional Witnesses focus primarily on two things (in addition to 'personal branding'). The first is how to persuade a judge that one is qualified to offer an authoritative opinion in some area of scientific expertise (even if one has no training, background, or experience in that field). The second is how to appear confident, informed, knowledgeable, and charismatic in front of a jury (even if one is, by nature, none of those things).
A Professional Witness knows all the catchphrases, buzzwords and idioms necessary to check the 'expert witness' boxes during a voir dire examination. The credo: A Professional Witness must never express doubt or unsurety about their conclusions, even if they are doubtful or unsure. A Professional Witness will always utter terms such a 'reasonable degree of scientific certainty' at just the right moments, even if they are uncertain if the topic at hand even is considered a 'science'.
The focus of somebody like Mr. Burgess is the number of entries on his resume. The focus of Dr. Russell is the number of lives she has saved. A Professional Witness might enjoy courtroom deference because they've practiced so hard at saying the things that will trigger compliance with expert witness-qualifying protocols, even if those things are inauthentic, have no practical meaning, or have never been within the witnesses' sphere of experience.
Often, a Professional Witness's degree of humility stands in inverse proportion to their functional expertise. The less the Professional Witness knows, the more boastful and pretentious they seem. (True to form, Mr. Burgess demonstrated how he doesn't even know a bit from a byte.) By contrast, a true professional's expertise often is belied by their humble and unassuming nature. Such is certainly the case with Dr. Russell.
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I am hopeful Judge Cannone will recognize Dr. Russell's enormous potential to assist prospective jurors to understand why the injuries to Ofc. O'Keefe's right arm could only have come from a dog attack. I am confident any judge focused on true justice will recognize how valuable a resource Dr. Russell can be in explaining why Ofc. O'Keefe's other injuries resulted from a beating, not from an automobile impact. Dr. Russell's humility and straightforward, honest demeanor ought to be a boon to her qualification, not a hindrance.
It doesn't take an expert to see that Ofc. O'Keefe was beaten and attacked by a dog. Anybody can see that with their own eyes. No expert is required. But the DA's true objective in this prosecution has little to do with the truth. The DA wants to protect somebody. And he wants to protect himself. That's why Michael Morrissey put Hired Hand Hank out there to belittle and demean the eminently qualified Dr. Russell. He wants you to look the other way.
Those who watched the first trial should know Dr. Russell's credentials by now. This is the 3rd time she's testified about her education and professional experience
@BostonDefender “Justice is truth in action” Benjamin Disraeli. Karen Read is not only presumed innocent but factually innocent . I look forward to the day she is acquitted in Norfolk Superior Court 🙌
To those who persist in throwing around the term “accused murderer” in an attempt to denigrate someone who is presumed to be innocent, I say to you that Sacco and Vanzetti were also “accused murderers” just about a century ago. They were both factually innocent men, tried and convicted in the Norfolk County Superior Courthouse, then wrongfully executed. The accusations against them were simply false.
In this country, anyone may be “accused” of a crime. “Accused” means nothing more than “Presumed Innocent.” Implying otherwise is simply un-American.
Breaking News: Karen Read has WON her motion to stay her deposition and discovery in Peg and Paul O'Grift's civil suit against her. Everything else gets under way. This is the perfect outcome for her. Turns out Paul's lawyer was WRONG when he argued that a defendant gives up their 5th amendment rights just because they exercise their 1st amendment rights.
I’ll believe it when I see it, but Howie has been right on the money ✅
IF Judge Beverly Cannone OUT of Norfolk Superior Courthouse on or before 1/1/25
I will wish her well in all future ventures knee deep in clams down the Cape 🌊
THIS WOULD BE ATOMIC BOOM💥
BREAKING:
More bad news for Meatball Morrissey's attempts to frame Karen Read.
Hearing from reliable sources that Judge Beverly "Auntie Bev" Cannone is OUT OUT OUT as of Jan. 1 as the boss of Norfolk Superior Court.
Her current title is Regional Administrative Justice -- RAJ, as in the old days of British colonial rule in India.
Not sure if RAJ is like being president of the Elks Club for a year or so & then you're rotated out automatically.
But judicial sources tell me that when the RAJ is replaced, as Cannone is about to be, he/she generally moves OUT of the rotation of the county they were boss of, in this case the rotten borough of Norfolk.
Often, the deposed RAJ's flee their previous base for their Cape mansions until they reach mandatory retirement age of 70.
Doesn't Auntie Bev have a mansion in Centreville?
If Cannone's OUT of Norfolk County courtrooms -- & I don't know for sure that she is & it's unlikely to be officially announced anytime soon, to avoid further humiliation for the reeling Meatball Mob -- any judge would be an improvement if indeed Morrissey's second attempted necktie party for Karen Read takes place in Dedham in January.
As you know, the fix was always in with Cannnone "presiding." Remember her jury-verdict forms with no options for a "not guilty" finding?
Cannone is a second-generation hack layabout. Her father was a courthouse payroll patriot in Quincy, Meatball's hometown.
Age 63, she has never worked a day in the Dreaded Private Sector. Her hack brother was the public defender for Jailbird Chris Albert, the Canton selectman, piss-poor pizza purveyor & brother of dodgy cops Brian and Kevin "Fat" Albert.
In 1994, Jailbird Chris was convicted of killing a guy in a hit & run car accident & did 6 months in the HOC.
In other words, Cannone is Norfolk County hack royalty. Of course she refused to accept the not-guilty verdicts from the jury in Karen Read's first kangaroo-court trial.
I just hope that being stripped of the RAJ title means Auntie Bev is gone, period, from Norfolk County. It would be good justice for justice, bad news for the "just-us" corruption that has destroyed all confidence in law-enforcement under Meatball Morrissey.
This has not been a good weekend for Meatball. The only upside, as I mentioned in my Herald column today, is that the Pats game in London started early.
So it's kinda like Thanksgiving morning & you get to have booze on your breath before noon like before the traditional high school games & everybody pretends not to notice.
Right Meatball? Pour yourself another Captain 'n' Cola in memory of Auntie Bev, the framing-est judge south of the Neponset.