By USA Daily Now 
A crash reconstructionist whose testimony is pivotal to KAREN READ‘s defense admitted Monday, outside the presence of jurors, that he shared notes with her legal team during the first trial and received information about prior testimony, potentially violating a sequestration order. DR. DANIEL WOLFE, a forensic scientist with ARCCA, testified in the initial trial that damage to Read’s SUV—the alleged murder weapon—was inconsistent with a collision involving JOHN O’KEEFE, the Boston police officer found dead on a colleague’s front lawn during a blizzard on January 29, 2022.
Wolfe returned to the stand Monday during a contentious evidence hearing as special prosecutor HANK BRENNAN raised concerns about delays in discovery, now a week into Read’s second murder trial. The first trial ended with a deadlocked jury. Wolfe admitted to sharing talking points with the defense during the first trial and receiving information about prior witness testimony, seemingly breaching the sequestration order. He also acknowledged discussing the case with the defense team on the encrypted messaging app, Signal.
Judge BEVERLY CANNONE dismissed jurors for the day, resuming court with a scheduled hearing involving ARCCA crash reconstruction experts. Brennan’s team has repeatedly accused the defense and ARCCA of delaying expert witness discovery disclosures. Wolfe, one of two ARCCA forensic scientists who testified in the first trial, stated that the firm’s work would not be completed until May 7, over a month after the trial began. The defense countered that the delay stemmed from the prosecution’s slow handling of its own expert disclosures, which were provided in late March.
During the hearing, Brennan questioned Wolfe about his awareness of prior witness testimony despite the sequestration order. Wolfe admitted to receiving verbal communications about key details, including DNA evidence and O’Keefe’s outstretched arm, which were not included in his expert reports. When asked if he was aware of the sequestration order, Wolfe responded, “I was never made aware of that.”
DR. ANDREW RENTSCHLER, the other ARCCA expert, also testified without jurors present as Judge Cannone deliberated whether their new findings, still incomplete, should be presented to the jury. Cannone asked Rentschler if he could finalize the findings by May 7 if ordered, to which he replied, “If you order me to do so, I mean I could.”
Earlier in the day, IAN WHIFFIN, a digital forensics expert with Cellebrite, testified about data recovered from the phones of O’Keefe and witness JENNIFER MCCABE. His testimony challenged two key defense theories from the first trial: that McCabe conducted a hypothermia-related Google search hours before O’Keefe was discovered and that O’Keefe may have been injured inside a party at 34 Fairview Road before being left on the front lawn. Whiffin confirmed that the search in question occurred around 6 a.m., not 2:27 a.m., supporting the prosecution’s timeline.
Whiffin also reconstructed O’Keefe’s final movements using location pings, Apple Health records, phone battery temperature, and Doppler data. His analysis showed O’Keefe stopped responding to his phone shortly after 12:30 a.m. near a flagpole outside 34 Fairview Road, with no movement until his body was discovered around 6:04 a.m. This testimony countered the defense’s claim that O’Keefe was injured elsewhere and moved to the location where he was found.
Read has pleaded not guilty to charges of striking O’Keefe with her SUV during a drunken argument and leaving him to die in a snowstorm. Her defense maintains that her vehicle never made contact with O’Keefe. Whiffin is expected to return to the stand Tuesday for cross-examination.
[Sources: Fox News, Court Proceedings]