Second Karen Learn’s ex-friend Jennifer McCabe admits to being ‘untruthful’ & is grilled on ‘confession’ at homicide trial
THIS is the beautiful second that Jennifer McCabe admitted to being “untruthful” with investigators throughout Karen Learn’s second homicide trial.
She was additionally grilled about allegedly overhearing the accused killer exclaiming “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him” after the physique of Learn‘s police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe, was discovered within the snow.
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Learn’s lawyer Alan Jackson clashed with McCabe throughout intense cross-examination within the Dedham, Massachusetts, courtroom on Wednesday.
He challenged her recollection of occasions – and even alleged that she coordinated with different witnesses to verify all their statements matched up — one thing McCabe denied.
Learn, 45, has pleaded not responsible to killing John O’Keefe outdoors a home social gathering after an argument within the early hours of January 29, 2022.
Prosecutors have alleged that Learn backed her SUV into the Boston cop, 46, after dropping him off at a celebration hosted by a fellow officer and left him to die within the snow.
Protection attorneys have claimed that Learn has been a sufferer of a conspiracy involving the police.
They’ve additionally advised her boyfriend was killed by somebody inside the house in Canton.
A decide final yr declared a mistrial after the jury was unable to succeed in a unanimous verdict.
Through the second homicide trial, Learn’s former good friend, key prosecution witness Jennifer McCabe, was questioned in regards to the morning she discovered O’Keefe within the snow.
Describing a chaotic scene, McCabe mentioned she had referred to as 911 to report a physique.
Learn and one other good friend, Kerry Roberts, tried to heat up O’Keefe and do CPR on him.
McCabe instructed jurors that Learn was “hysterical” once they discovered O’Keefe within the snow.
SNOW ON FACE
“It wasn’t till I bought very shut over to them that I noticed Kerry eradicating the snow from John’s face,” McCabe testified.
“I used to be shocked, I could not consider that was him simply mendacity there.”
McCabe mentioned that Learn straddled the cop, lifted up each their shirts and laid on prime of him, to attempt to heat him.
“Kerry Roberts and I made eye contact and I, like, knew, I used to be like, ‘I’ll name 911,’ however I believe I knew, in that second, that John was useless,” McCabe added.
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She recalled that, later, Learn was working round and screaming a lot that police advised she sit in a police cruiser.
Learn, McCabe and Roberts prayed for O’Keefe – however when paramedics moved his physique to an ambulance, Learn screamed for Roberts to go verify on him and questioned if he “was useless,” the court docket was instructed.
McCabe then testified that whereas she was standing subsequent to a police officer and a paramedic as Learn allegedly instructed them “I hit him” 3 times.
I believed she was speaking loopy
This corroborated earlier testimony from paramedics, together with Timothy Nuttall who had testified that when he responded to the scene that morning, a frantic Learn allegedly mentioned, “I hit him. I hit him. I hit him.”
McCabe instructed particular prosecutor Hank Brennan yesterday that hours after discovering the officer’s physique, she started to recall conversations with Learn.
“Miss Learn said to myself and [Kerry Roberts], ‘I hit him, I hit him, I hit him’,” McCabe alleged.
She instructed jurors that she had interrupted her good friend as a result of, “I believed she was speaking loopy.”
“Karen was hysterical, irrational,” McCabe testified.
A timeline of Karen Learn’s case
Karen Learn, the Mansfield lady accused of fatally hanging her cop boyfriend together with her SUV in January 2022, is at the moment present process a second homicide trial.
A decide declared a mistrial on July 1, 2024, after a jury failed to succeed in a unanimous verdict after 5 days of deliberation.
- January 29, 2022: O’Keefe’s physique is discovered outdoors of a good friend’s house.
- February 1, 2022: Learn was arrested and charged with manslaughter, motorcar murder, and leaving the scene of a automobile murder.
- February 2, 2022: Learn pleads not responsible in Stoughton District Court docket.
- June 9, 2022: A state grand jury indicts Learn on upgraded prices of second-degree homicide, manslaughter, and leaving the scene.
- April 12, 2023: Learn’s attorneys publicly launch court docket paperwork they are saying include “bombshell exculpatory info,” together with Jennifer McCabe’s Google search.
- Nov. 20, 2023: Residents of the divided neighborhood vote 903-800 to audit the Canton Police Division over the case.
- Might 23, 2023: Throughout one other pre-trial listening to, the protection says that the homicide of John O’Keefe is an enormous cover-up involving members of regulation enforcement and their family and friends members.
- Feb. 22, 2024: Prosecutors unveil long-awaited outcomes of crime scene proof checks, alleging that O’Keefe’s DNA was recovered from the damaged taillight of Learn’s automobile.
- April 12, 2024: Learn’s protection attorneys say in court docket that Brian Albert, his son Colin Albert, and Brian Higgins might have every killed O’Keefe on the social gathering that night time.
- April 16, 2024: Learn’s trial started in Massachusetts Superior Court docket.
- Might 17, 2024: Jennifer McCabe, who was with Learn when she found O’Keefe’s physique, testifies that in their search, Learn repeatedly mentioned: “Did I hit him? Might I’ve hit him?” She additionally says Learn later mentioned when emergency staff have been on the scene: “I hit him.”
- June 3, 2024: The protection accuses police of planting the shattered fragments of taillight from Learn’s automobile on the scene of the crime.
- June 24, 2024: The protection rests their case.
- July 1, 2024: A decide declared a hung jury after 5 days of deliberation.
- April 22, 2025: Learn’s second homicide trial begins.
After contacting state police to cross on that allegation, Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor visited her house to take her assertion.
Jackson instructed McCabe that she had testified in April 2022 that Learn had expressed that assertion as a query, “Might I’ve hit him? Did I hit him?”
McCabe testified that recalling these phrases had been “a part of the reply” throughout her April 2024 testimony.
She added, “I do know I had mentioned what Karen had mentioned to me after which she had mentioned, ‘I hit him, might I’ve hit him?’ I instructed them how she confirmed up at my home, I simply mainly gave them the occasions of that morning.”
However Jackson challenged McCabe’s allegation.
“Was it vital to you to inform these jurors that you just heard my consumer say ‘I hit him’ 3 times?” Jackson requested McCabe.
“I answered the questions and I am telling the jurors what I do know,” McCabe replied.
“I do know that morning your consumer mentioned ‘I hit him, I hit him, I hit him’ and there was a feminine EMT there.”
In your whole grand jury testimony, you by no means mentioned my consumer mentioned the phrases ‘I hit him’
Urgent McCabe, Jackson requested why these alleged feedback couldn’t be present in earlier police reviews, or within the 227 pages of her grand jury testimony.
“You claimed on direct examination at the moment, as a matter of truth, that [Karen] Learn checked out you on the scene and mentioned the phrase, ‘I hit him, I hit him, I hit him,’ she mentioned it 3 times, very distinctly, in response to your testimony, appropriate?” Jackson requested.
“She did, sure,” McCabe mentioned.
“Actually, in your whole grand jury testimony, you by no means mentioned my consumer mentioned the phrases ‘I hit him,’” he claimed.
Nonetheless, McCabe insisted she had instructed police what Learn allegedly mentioned — even when it wasn’t within the reviews.
She additionally mentioned it wasn’t within the grand jury testimony as a result of she wasn’t requested particularly about it.
“I hit him. I hit him. I hit him is simply as contemporary at the moment because it was three years in the past,” she added.
Learn has denied this alleged confession.
“FORGOT” INFORMATION
McCabe additionally instructed jurors that she had referred to as unnamed authorities with info she had “forgot” to inform them.
She admitted that she had omitted the truth that she had referred to as 5 individuals earlier than her interview with investigators
Jackson grilled McCabe about her choice to name the investigators again after they left her home to inform them she “had been untruthful with them.”
Throughout cross-examination he accused McCabe of mendacity to officers from one other regulation enforcement company who questioned her in regards to the case.
McCabe testified that she had initially instructed visiting officers that she had referred to as two individuals – her husband and Roberts – throughout the time between their arrival and her talking to them.
Nonetheless, she then contacted them later to tell the officers she had spoken to 3 further individuals.
McCabe mentioned she had spoken to O’Keefe’s mother, alongside together with her witness advocate on the native district lawyer’s workplace, and her Boston-based police officer brother-in-law.
READ ACCUSES MCCABE
As Learn left Norfolk Superior Court docket, she alleged to reporters, “One other witness, one other occasion of perjury – or cases, I’d say.”
After listening to McCabe’s testimony, Learn alleged the witness had been “mendacity” on the stand about what occurred on the day of her boyfriend’s loss of life.
Whereas flanked by her protection group, she additional alleged, “Each assertion’s totally different. Beneath oath. Not beneath oath. That is similar to what we noticed a yr in the past.”
TRIAL RESUMES
The U.S. Supreme Court docket rejected Learn’s double-jeopardy enchantment on Monday, which successfully cleared the way in which for her trial to proceed.
Her protection lawyer had dubbed the case “the definition of cheap doubt” in his opening assertion.
The prosecution mentioned its case would depend on “info, science and information.”
A break in court docket was scheduled for at the moment, with McCabe returning to the stand on Friday, when the trial is predicted to renew.
Learn has pleaded not responsible to prices of second-degree homicide, manslaughter whereas working inebriated, and leaving the scene of private harm and loss of life.
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