In today’s explosive session of the Karen Read murder trial, the defense launched a full-on assault—not against the timeline, not against the data, but against the man who delivered it: digital forensics expert Shanon Burgess.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson hammered Burgess over old versions of his résumé, which falsely listed a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Under oath, Burgess admitted he never earned the degree—fueling the defense’s claim that his testimony shouldn’t be trusted. But did the argument land?
Not according to the Commonwealth. Prosecutor Hank Brennan struck back hard in redirect, pointing out that Burgess had updated his CV in 2024 to say he was “currently pursuing” the degree, and that the flawed version in question was submitted by a staffer in a completely unrelated case. More importantly, Brennan reminded the court: Burgess’s credentials were not the reason he was called to testify—his evidence was.
And that evidence still stands: forensic data that places Karen Read’s Lexus reversing at the exact moment John O’Keefe’s iPhone stopped moving. That timeline didn’t change, even when the résumé drama played out.
The jury also heard from Christina Hanley, a forensic scientist with the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab. Hanley walked them through physical evidence collected from the scene and Read’s SUV—glass shards, taillight fragments, and a clear drinking cup. The defense tried to poke holes by highlighting a date misstatement, but the impact was minimal. The evidence, like the timeline, was intact.
This episode unpacks the resume attack, the prosecution’s defense, and why, at the end of the day, you can question a man’s degree—but not the truth in the data.
#KarenRead #JohnOKeefe #KarenReadTrial #ShanonBurgess #ForensicEvidence #TrueCrimeCourtroom #ProsecutionStrategy #FakeDegree #CrimeSceneAnalysis #ChristinaHanley
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