Karen Read’s silence in murder trial raises stakes for defense

Karen Read s defense organization s decision to not call her to the witness stand is a gamble that could help or hinder her matter after the prosecution played her damaging interview clips in her second murder trial allowing the jury to hear Read s version of events in her own words Read is facing the possibility of life in prison for the alleged murder of her boyfriend Boston police officer John O Keefe The prosecution indicates Read struck O Keefe with her Lexus SUV in a drunken argument leaving him to freeze to death in the front yard of a friend s house party shortly after midnight on Jan Read s defense unit insists her car never made contact with O Keefe and there was no collision When I first came to practice it was never put your client on stand ever New York City defense attorney Louis Gelormino communicated Fox News Digital But I tend to disagree with that sometimes I think we have gotten our biggest wins when we put our client on the stand KAREN READ'S TRUE-CRIME DOCUMENTARIES MAY IMPACT SECOND TRIAL COURT DOCSOn Tuesday the defense submitted the group s proposed jury instructions that indicate Read will not take the stand in her trial As you know Ms Read did not testify at this trial the instructions read You may not hold that against her Ms Read has an absolute right not to testify because as I've explained she is presumed to be innocent and does not have to do anything to convince you she is innocent The instructions stress that the reason Read chose to not take the witness stand is not relevant to the jury s deliberations and cannot be considered evidence in her trial Legal experts tell Fox News Digital the choice to keep a defendant from speaking may not perpetually be the best choice KAREN READ ACCUSED KILLER OF COP BOYFRIEND INDICATED NO EMOTION UNTIL JURY DELIBERATIONS DOCUMENTARYGelormino reported he believes Read would put on a strong performance on the witness stand but calling her to testify does not come without risks I think the reason they're hiding her is because they don't want to have to have her explain all these videos that they saw of her not acting in a good way Gelormino commented KAREN READ JUDGE BLOCKS SANDRA BIRCHMORE MENTIONS EXPERT SAYS CASES SHOULD BE WAKE-UP CALL FOR POLICESpecial prosecutor Hank Brennan played numerous clips from Read's televised interviews picking out clips that could potentially damage the defense I also wonder did I say could I have hit him Read announced in a interview with Examination Discovery Or was it narrated to me that I noted I hit him And I knew I never could ve reported that so the closest thing I must ve explained was did I hit him In the clip Read questions if she really explained it as various times as law enforcement is claiming KAREN READ DEFENSE FLOATS THEORY THAT JEALOUS BRIAN HIGGINS FOUGHT JOHN O'KEEFE BEFORE DEATHIn another clip she talked about spiking her own drinks with extra shots because they weren't strong enough Gelormino mentioned the defense group likely does not want Read to be confronted about her statements on cross-examination possibly opening the door for days of tense questioning from the state They don't want to have her explaining all of these misbehaviors or what people would think would be bad behavior Gelormino noted But the choice to keep Read off the stand could potentially keep her from providing an explanation for her statements in the interviews while also clarifying her side of the story LEAD DETECTIVE'S TEXT MESSAGES CAST SHADOW OVER KAREN READ MURDER TRIAL There are two sides of every coin Gelormino notified Fox News Digital You could put her on and try to have her explain it or you can avoid it altogether Gelormino pointed to the reality that Read could appear defensive while offering an explanation for her on-camera stories which could shift the jury s perception of her personality As a defense attorney you are going to have to clean that up Gelormino explained So you are going to be spending a lot of time defending your character there GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUBThe videos pose a new obstacle for the defense since they were not played in Read s first trial last year The first jury almost convicted Read of manslaughter while operating under the influence retired Massachusetts Superior Court Judge and Boston College law professor Jack Lu described Fox News Digital That was with no defendant video statements Here we have a large number of damaging statements and maybe a scarce more in rebuttal FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME SQUAD ON XLu noted the defense has not attempted to address the video clips or provide context regarding Read s version of events at this point in the trial So the same trial plus the damaging video where the jury almost convicted is bad for the defense Lu revealed As the defense continues calling spectators the notable absence of Read s own testimony will likely only be fully felt once the jury reads its verdict with the prosecution acting as the only side that opted to include her own words in the courtroom Based on the fact that they had a hung jury the last time the defense has a decent episode Gelormino notified Fox News Digital So do you want to mess that up with having her defend her actions and character for the next two or three days on the stand That's a tough decision