Expert witness says O’Keefe’s fatal head injury came from falling backwards

John O

Learn, 45, is accused of killing her then buddy, the 46-year-old O’Keefe, by hitting him on January 29, 2022 together with her Lexus SUV from 2021 after which let him die on the ground in a blizzard in Canton, Massachusetts, about 20 miles south of Boston.

The pinnacle trauma and the cranium fractures he has sustained, together with hypothermia of the chilly, wouldn’t have killed him instantly, based on Dr. Aizik Wolf, who testified that he handled many related accidents in his profession in Minneapolis.

“The one approach he may get this sort of harm was to fall again, hit the again of his head after which the ensuing vitality forces that go into his mind, within the base of his cranium,” he instructed the jury whereas questioning particular public prosecutor Hank Brennan.

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Mind surgeon Dr. Aizik Wolf testifies to John O (Greg Derr/Patriot Ledger through AP/Pool)

O’Keefe suffered “a traditional blunt trauma harm,” mentioned Wolf.

O’Keefe fell again and hit his head, Wolf mentioned, and the ability of the affect broke his cranium and later resulted in “Raccoon Eyes”, which seem like black eyes.

“That is what occurs when delicate tissue hits a strong floor,” he testified.

Swelling within the sufferer’s mind would have killed him beneath regular circumstances, often inside 24 to 48 hours, based on Wolf. Some victims died in only one to 3.

The physique temperature of O’Keefe additionally refueled within the Januarye easter. When paramedics discovered him at 6 o’clock, his temperature was solely 80 levels, beneath the edge for what medical professionals name ‘critical hypothermia’.

Karen Las, Proper and lawyer Elizabeth focus on few developments in the course of the homicide strategy of Learn on 21 Could 2025. (Greg Derr/Patriot Ledger through AP/Pool)

Wolf mentioned that he handled many sufferers with related accidents early in his profession when he labored in a trauma heart in Minneapolis. The town may be brutal chilly within the winter. Lots of the wounds had been deadly. Some had been inflicted to drunk sufferers who slid on the ice. Others involved individuals who fell after a coronary heart assault.

“This testimony of Dr. Wolf units up the argument of the Commonwealth for Graaf 2, the involuntary manslaughter,” mentioned Grace Edwards, a lawyer in Massachusetts who follows the case. “The Commonwealth will argue with the jury that if they can not uncover that Karen Learn intentionally induced the loss of life of John O

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Karen Learn and John O’Keefe (Karen Learn)

Based on Wolf’s Bio within the Miami Neuroscience Middle, he’s a number one authority in his area and the director of the clinic.

A brief cross -hearing by lawyer Robert Alessi mentioned particular person accidents that O’Keefe sustained, who weren’t related to the top trauma that killed him.

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“I assumed lawyer Alessi did a great job to guide Dr. Wolf from the again of the top to the entrance of the top and to induce testimony that these accidents in all probability didn’t come out of a fall,” Edwards instructed Fox Information Digital. “This helps protection concept that John O

State police technician Christina Hanley discusses the proof of glass fragment in the course of the Karen Learn course of on 21 Could 2025. (Greg Derr/Patriot Ledger through AP/Pool)

Wolf began the day within the stands. After his testimony, Christina Hanley returned to the witness couch from the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab. She is an skilled within the area of glass and plastic fragments that analyzed the damaged cocktail glass that outdoors 34 FairView Street and on the rear bumper of Learn’s Lexus SUV, in addition to items of the damaged rear gentle.

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Her testimony was interrupted on Tuesday in the beginning of the day.

John O’Keefe (Boston Police Division)

She mentioned on Wednesday afternoon that a number of the plastic rubble that was recovered from O’Keefe’s clothes was “constant” with the supplies utilized in Lexus van Learn, however may come from one other supply with related traits.

Throughout Cross Train, she revealed that not one of the damaged glass on Learn’s Bumper corresponded to the shattered cocktail glass that was discovered within the backyard close to O’Keefe.

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Lawyer Alan Jackson let her clarify that the one factor that one of many bumper glass matched was a glass monster that was recovered by former Trooper Michael Proctor, who was fired in March after an inner probe in inappropriate SMS messages he despatched in the course of the investigation.

Earlier within the trial, the protection performed video with Proctor that stood behind the automobile, out of the digicam’s view, whereas it was at Canton’s police headquarters.

Proctor maintained by his household that his analysis was in accordance with the proof and was carried out with integrity.

Learn may bear life in jail if they’re convicted of the highest tax, second -degree homicide. She can also be accused of drunk driving, manslaughter and leaving the scene of a deadly accident.

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Andrew Fone contributed to this report.