Karen Read Trial: May 19 testimony

The day started promising for the prosecution but ended poorly when the defense caught the state’s witness allegedly lying about having a Bachelor of Science degree he never earned. It was a highly dramatic afternoon. When the time comes, I expect Judge Cannone will give the jury the standard instruction that “you are the sole judges of the credibility, the believability, of the witnesses.”

The state called to the stand Shanon (sic) Burgess, a digital forensic expert. Burgess did not testify at the first trial and only came onto the case in October of 2024. To support its claim that Read backed her SUV into O’Keefe, killing him, the state needs to prove the fact that the SUV backed up on the lawn at 34 Fairview Rd and the time when it backed up. By analyzing data stored on the many computer modules on the Lexus, Burgess said he was able to determine that a backup maneuver did occur and that, according to the clock aboard the Lexus, it ended at 12:31:43 a.m. on January 29, 2022.

But Burgess then testified that the clock on O’Keefe’s cellphone was between 21 and 29 seconds faster than the Lexus clock, and so, to synchronize to the time of data recorded on O’Keefe’s phone, the time of the backup maneuver should be moved forward to between 12:32:04 a.m. and 12:32:12 a.m.

This adjustment is crucial since, without it, the prosecution’s timeline might have the backup maneuver ending while O’Keefe’s cellphone arguably still records him as taking steps. But with the adjustment, the prosecution’s new timeline for the backup event squares nicely with analysis showing when O’Keefe’s cellphone stopped recording movement.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Robert Alessi quickly got Burgess to admit that he never earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, as claimed on his LinkedIn profile page, and on a resume or “CV” circulated by his employer, Aperture, and that he has left these false academic credentials listed for years. Burgess did himself no favors by refusing to accept that he apparently lied about having the degree, admitting only that the information was an error or out of date. But the point was made.

With this shadow hanging over his credibility, Burgess was then sharply cross-examined on the substance. Burgess first provided a report of his conclusions on January 30, 2025. He then revised it on May 8, well after the trial was under way. Alessi insinuated that Burgess moved forward the timeline for the backup maneuver only after learning that analysis of O’Keefe’s cellphone showed health data “of 36 steps covering a distance of 84 feet” taken after the original end time for the backup maneuver – 12:31: 43—had passed. Burgess denied the insinuation.

Cross-examination will resume tomorrow. I expect the prosecution on redirect to try to rehabilitate the reputation of the witness, by stressing that Burgess did not need a bachelor’s degree to do the work he does, and that his true credentials are work experience. I expect the prosecution to defend as valid the clock differential reasons for moving the timeframe when the SUV backup maneuver occurred. I also would not be surprised if the prosecution disputes the defense claim about the last time O’Keefe’s cellphone recorded his taking steps. Burgess testified that the last “lock event” on the phone was at 12:32:09 a.m. The defense suggests that the phone is still recording O’Keefe taking steps, ending at 12:32:16. Given the importance of the timeline for the backup maneuver, every second counts.

Jeffrey Abramson, Professor of Government and Law Emeritus at University of Texas at Austin, former Middlesex County assistant district attorney, and author of We, The Jury: The Jury System and the Ideal of Democracy (Harvard University Press).