Even though Karen Read did not testify in her Massachusetts trial for allegedly killing her boyfriend, her body language and reactions throughout past two months can tell a larger story, according to experts.
Read, 44, is accused of murdering John O'Keefe on Jan. 29, 2022 with her car after he was found dead in a fellow police officer's driveway after a night out drinking. The jury which has deliberated for more than eight hours between Tuesday and Wednesday will resume Thursday morning.
Wendy Patrick, a career trial attorney, told Newsweek that Read's body language and appearance are not evidence, but they could still send subliminal messages to the jury.
"As a practical matter, it's almost impossible to avoid being influenced, even subliminally by what they see as far as the defendant's body language," Patrick said. "They can't go into the deliberation room and start commenting on what they think about their body language at the table. Sometimes that's easier said than done."
Criminal defendants "testify from the table," even if they are not called up to the stand, simply by their appearances, Patrick said.
Read has always looked put together with different pant suit outfits and dresses with tights. The dark colors Read has worn, especially navy blue, are associated with trustworthiness, Patrick said. Read's makeup has been simple throughout the past two months as well.
"Clothing is always in evidence," Deirdre Clemente, a historian and curator of 20th century American material culture, told Newsweek. "It's one of the first things we see when we look at people. It is how we instantaneously process who we think someone is."
Clemente said assumptions are instantly made, so crafting a public image in cases like Read's are important.
"All of her clothes, all of her makeup choices are being carefully curated to give the image that they want this jury to see," Clemente said.
Women's appearances are also overly analyzed in everyday instances, Clemente said. Read's style is not showy and can make people think she's "that woman from yoga class or the grocery store." The outfits Read has chosen are not intimidating and is "well-played in the medium zone of attractive and well put together without being overblown."
"She wants to show a very conservative presence in the courtroom to appeal to the sense of 'I'm not the kind of person that would commit a crime like this,'" Patrick said. "It's one of the reasons character-witnesses come up in these cases."
Patrick noted the importance of appearance is also relevant in other cases like Jodi Arias'. Arias was convicted of first-degree murder of her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander. She has been sentenced to life in prison. Arias, who stabbed Alexander 27 times and shot him with a gun to the forehead, still dressed up throughout her court appearances.
"She pulled her hair back. She did her makeup. She wore those glasses," Patrick said. "The jurors are always watching. She's in a fishbowl."
Cases involving gangs are also very similar. Pictures can show the accused with tattoos, throwing signs and pointing guns. In court, however, Patrick said they often look "completely cleaned up, having cut their hair, wearing those Clark Kent glasses at the defense table looking like they're going to take a college exam."
Read was captured on camera flashing a smile at the beginning of the trial on April 29. Her family has embraced her and so have other supporters.
"Sometimes it's hard to know what's behind a smile," Patrick said. "I don't know if you can say she was super happy before. Maybe she was worried then too."
Recently Read has been seen giving glares, crossing her arms, rolling her eyes, or even scowling. These can be signs of anxiousness as the jury is deliberating, Patrick said.
"The difference in demeanor can reflect how she thinks the trial is going, but that too is not evidence," Patrick said. "That is one of the reasons many lawyers advise their clients to stay as poker face as they can. To show emotion is to send a message to the jury."
Patrick, who wrote Reading People, said she has been in cases where she has amazing testimony coming from the stand, but the jurors are all just "looking at the pretty lady that I'm prosecuting."
"Jurors sometimes look at a defendant and think to themselves is that someone that looks like they're capable of committing the crime that they're being charged with," Patrick said. "If jurors don't think that she's taking this seriously, that might cause them, maybe implicitly, to have a bias toward her."
Who is Karen Read?
Read was a Bentley University finance lecturer in Massachusetts. The school announced in 2022 that she would not be teaching and her Financial Markets and Investment course would be taught be the chair of the finance department instead.
"By now you may have seen or heard the news involving a member of our community and the death of a Boston police officer," said Donna Maria Blancero, Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs, in a statement at the time. "Karen Read is an adjunct lecturer at Bentley. The university cannot comment on an active investigation, but we are aware of the evolving situation and following it closely."
Blancero had announced that her "thoughts go out to Officer O'Keefe's family and loved ones."
On LinkedIn, Read still lists herself as a part of Bentley's faculty. Read had graduated from Bentley's Elkin B. McCallum Graduate School of Business in 2004 and she has a BS in Finance from the college as well. She wrote that she graduated from an accelerated studies program for her undergraduate in three years. Read also listed she was a "Presidential Scholar" in both 1999 and 2000.
Read's LinkedIn also shows her currently working at Fidelity Investments for equity research within the tech sector. Previously, she was a financial analyst at Sensata Technolgies, client account manager at Brown Brothers Harriman, and a trading room assistant at Hughey Center for Financial Services.
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