A mistrial was declared last year. Read's second trial on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene has so far appeared to follow similar contours to the first.
Defense focuses on trooper search for naked pictures
Much of the second trial has focused on Read’s broken taillight. Prosecutors have argued it was broken after Read backed into O’Keefe while dropping him off at the party.
But Read’s attorney, Alan Jackson, on Monday pressed one of the investigators, Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik, about the behavior of one of his subordinates, Michael Proctor, the disgraced state trooper who led the investigation. Jackson cited a text message chain with Bukhenik in which Proctor said, “I hate that man, I truly hate him” about David Yannetti, an attorney for Read.
Jackson also cited text messages in which Proctor used a slur for people with disabilities to describe Read and said he was going through her phone looking for naked pictures. Jackson said Bukhenik showed approval of the slur by “liking” it in the text chain, though Bukhenik said Monday he was merely acknowledging it.
Bukhenik said he had no comment about Proctor's texts that said he was looking for naked pictures. He did agree with the defense that Proctor's texts were unprofessional.
“The fact that he wrote 'No nudes so far' I cannot comment on,” Bukhenik said, adding that the investigation at large was handled ”with integrity and honor."
The defense has also recently focused on Ring surveillance videos that showed Read’s car leaving O’Keefe’s driveway that appeared to touch another parked car around 5 a.m. on Jan. 29, several hours after Read dropped off O’Keefe at the party.
Jackson also pointed out Friday that Bukhenik had previously said in a report that Read’s vehicle “came near” the other car in the Ring video and asked him if he still felt that.
“Logically speaking, the two vehicles had to have come into contact for the tire to move,” Bukhenik said.
What happened to the evidence?
On Friday, Jackson also pressed Bukhenik about how the evidence including pieces of Read's taillight were processed.
Jackson repeatedly suggested the evidence was collected at the scene by Proctor. Bukhenik kept saying he wasn't sure who did what.
Proctor was suspended for sending sexist and lewd texts about Read soon after the first trial and subsequently fired in March. The State Police Trial Board also found Proctor guilty of providing sensitive and confidential information about the case to people outside of law enforcement and consuming alcohol while on duty.
Bukhenik was disciplined but not fired for failing to reprimand Proctor for offensive text messages, some of which were read aloud on Friday and Monday.
Jackson then questioned Bukhenik why about six pieces of Read's taillight — from a total of 46 pieces — collected in February 2022 weren't logged into evidence for another two months. Bukhenik was shown an evidence bag with the items but couldn't say who filled out the evidence bag.
“Can you point to any documentation indicating where those items went, whose possession they were in and what circumstance between Feb. 10 and March 14,” Jackson said, later displaying an evidence bag that had Proctor's signature showing evidence collected Feb. 11.
Bukhenik insisted the evidence was handled appropriately, saying “you claiming it wasn't booked into something doesn't mean it wasn't properly handled in custody and under our control."
Read's flirty text messages
The defense on Friday also had Bukhenik read aloud text messages between Read and Brian Higgins, a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The large stack of text messages presented to Bukhenik prompted Judge Beverly Cannone to ask the defense, “You’re certainly not asking him to read this whole document?”
Ultimately, Bukhenik did read them all. They showed that Read initiated the conversation with Higgins, calling him “hot” and saying she liked how much they were alike.
“We're single,” Read texted. “We can do whatever we want.”
Higgins also called Read “hot” and asked, “where did these feelings come from?”
The two also talked about sharing a kiss and at meeting up for a drink.
Additionally, Read told Higgins she was discontented with her relationship with O'Keefe. Read shared that O’Keefe had cheated on her during a recent New Year’s Eve getaway.
“I have issues with John and things are far from perfect," Read texted Higgins.
During the initial trial last year, Jackson suggested Higgins lured O’Keefe to the house party, where the two got into a fight. Jackson appeared to be returning to the argument on Friday, pressing Bukhenik about why he didn’t confiscate Higgins’ phone during the investigation and replaying footage of Higgins pointing to O’Keefe’s direction when leaving the bar.
“We had the information that we had,” Bukhenik said. “We did not need to get his phone.”
Higgins was at the party that night after texting Read “well?” on the night of Jan. 28, 2022.
Higgins had seen Read and O’Keefe at the Waterfall bar and Grille, the last bar the two were spotted at before going to the party. Shortly after texting Read, who didn't respond, Higgins texted O’Keefe “you coming here???” at 12:20 a.m. on Jan. 29.
“John died,” Read responded the next day.
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