Karen Read Defense FLOPS in Cross-Examination! Paramedic’s ‘I Hit Him’ Claim Stands Strong!

Katie McLaughlin, a Canton firefighter-paramedic, took the stand on May 5, 2025, and dropped a bombshell that had the courtroom buzzing. She testified that when she arrived at the snowy scene where John O’Keefe’s body was found on January 29, 2022, she heard Karen Read repeatedly say, “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.” This was huge for the prosecution, who’ve been hammering the narrative that Read, drunk and angry, backed her Lexus SUV into her boyfriend, O’Keefe, and left him to die in a blizzard. McLaughlin’s testimony painted a vivid picture of a frantic Read, her words sounding like a confession to the crime. She described the chaos of the scene—snow falling, O’Keefe unresponsive, and Read’s voice cutting through the cold air with those three damning words.

The prosecution leaned hard into McLaughlin’s credibility. As a first responder, she had no skin in the game, no reason to lie. Her role was to save lives, not pick sides, and her recollection of Read’s statements felt raw and unfiltered. She didn’t waver under direct examination, sticking to her story that Read’s words were clear and unmistakable. The prosecution used this to reinforce their case: Read’s own mouth betrayed her, admitting guilt at the scene. They also tied it to other witnesses, like Timothy Nuttall, who’d testified earlier about hearing similar statements, building a pattern that’s tough to dismiss. McLaughlin’s calm, professional demeanor made her a rock-solid witness, and you could feel the defense sweating as they prepped for their shot at her.

When Alan Jackson, Read’s defense attorney, got up for cross-examination, he tried to poke holes, but it was like trying to punch through concrete. He likely grilled McLaughlin on the chaotic scene—snow, noise, emotions running high—to suggest her memory might be fuzzy. Maybe he pushed on whether she could’ve misheard Read or if someone else said something similar. But McLaughlin didn’t budge, and the search results don’t hint at any major slip-ups. Jackson’s strategy has been to paint first responders as part of a cover-up or to highlight inconsistencies, but McLaughlin’s testimony aligned too well with others for him to gain traction. The defense’s failure to shake her left them scrambling, and the prosecution walked away with a win, knowing those “I hit him” words would stick in the jurors’ minds.

#KarenReadTrial #KatieMcLaughlin #JohnOKeefe #MurderTrial #ProsecutionWins #DefenseFails #CourtroomDrama #CantonMA #TrueCrime #WitnessTestimony 
 
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