Canton Coverup Part 464: Hank Brennan Tried To Taint Potential Jury Pool, Got Owned By Dr. Marie Russell

 

– Framed – Video for Full Background on Canton Cover-Up Story
– Donate to the Karen Read Legal Defense Fund
– See all parts of the Canton Cover-Up Series
– Watch the Live Shows and Videos
– Join ”Justice for John O’Keefe and Karen Read” FB Group

After I began covering the Karen Read case on April 18, 2023 with Part 1 of the Canton Coverup series, the battle of public opinion in the case has been tremendously in Read’s favor. The movement for justice for both Read and John O’Keefe has grown exponentially, as millions of people now know the undeniable facts which prove that O’Keefe was beaten inside Brian Albert’s house and then dumped on the front lawn in order to frame Read for murder.

For the first 4-6 months there was virtually no opposition from the McAlbert Mafia, since the facts of the case were impossible to combat. The Commonwealth had no response, other than some vague promises to “wait until trial” when we would all see Brian Higgins embarrassing text messages. Instead, they tried to silence the defense by filing a motion for a gag order, which would’ve prevented them from speaking with the media at all.

When they lost that motion in late July of 2023 and realized they couldn’t silence the Read team, they decided that the only way to try to fight back was to:

1. Make plans to frame my journalism and activism as “witness intimidation” in order to discredit my reporting, silence me, discourage people from peacefully protesting, and link me to Karen Read in the hopes that they could jam her up on conspiracy charges.
2. Find their own surrogates on social media who they could leak information to in an attempt to build popular support for the McAlberts and State Police.

Number 1 was executed on October 11, 2023 when I was arrested, then again when they tried to charge dozens of other peaceful protesters, then again when they got a search warrant for Read’s phone to see how many times we spoke, and finally when they tried and failed to indict Read on conspiracy to commit witness intimidation charges on March 27, 2024.

Number 2 was executed when former spokesman David Traub began sending emails to Michael Morrissey,  the State Police detectives framing Read, and Gretchen Voss, urging them to use disgraced former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer as a mouthpiece to leak information to because she has an “enormous twitter reach” and “provides pushback” against Read’s defense. They were in regular communication with Coffindaffer, as well as Katherine Peter, who is being charged with felony witness intimidation in multiple counties.

And although the Commonwealth has been able to generate some pushback to Free Karen Read movement, they are vastly outnumbered because the facts aren’t on their side.

Another problem they face in the PR battle, is that Adam Lally wasn’t very effective at moving the needle or getting the general public to buy into the Commonwealth’s lies. But based on Tuesday’s Daubert hearing in which Dr. Marie Russell was questioned by special prosecutor Hank Brennan for several hours, it’s become clear that the reason Brennan was hired wasn’t to win this case in court, but rather in the court of public opinion.

Hank Brennan is a defense attorney by nature, and a successful one. Defense attorneys often have to be more creative, lively, and theatrical in order to create reasonable doubt for their clients. When the cameras are on them they have to use the media to spin the narrative in order to put reasonable doubt in the minds of the general public, which includes potential jurors.

That is what you saw on display at Tuesday’s Daubert hearing. Here are some of the highlights from the day:

1. Brennan claims that the Commonwealth took molds of Chloe’s teeth. 

What he failed to point out is that:

• There is ZERO evidence the dog they claim to have taken molds from is Chloe.
• The defense was not allowed to attend this procedure.
• The defense was not told where the dog is located so they can visit Chloe themselves.
• Brennan also forgot to mention that the Commonwealth is claiming that Chloe was rehomed again. If true, it means that she likely bit whoever the Albert family passed her onto.
• It’s been 3 years since Chloe allegedly bit John O’Keefe, and her teeth could be radically different than they were at the time.
• The Commonwealth never took DNA samples from John’s arm to test for dog DNA, so none of this matters.

Most importantly, these moldings are not admissible in court for a number of reasons. Thus the only reason for Brennan to mention them at all was because he was hired to wage war on the defense in the court of public opinion. He wants potential jurors to believe that Chloe is still alive and that the only one who sought the dog for inspection was the prosecution. This is something they won’t hear during the actual trial.

 

2. Brennan repeatedly stated Commonwealth theories as facts during his questioning of Dr. Russell. 

There were dozens of questions like this one posed to Dr. Russell:

“Do you know how fast that Lexus was traveling backwards when it hit Mr. O’Keefe?”

“What was his body position at the time the car allegedly collided with him?”

It’s never been proven that O’Keefe was hit by a car, and multiple experts testified that he wasn’t hit by a car. Therefore it would be impossible for her to answer that question. Of course Auntie Bev allowed questions like this to be asked over Attorney Alessi’s objections.

 

3. Brennan asked Dr. Russell if she had reviewed the opinions of Dr. Kenneth Kinsey, who said that John’s injuries didn’t come from a dog. 

Dr. Russell had no idea who Dr. Kinsey was. He is not a medical doctor, but he did testify about ballistics at the Murdaugh trial, and is frequently on TV. Brennan apparently got this information from an interview he did on Brandi Churchwell’s YouTube/podcast “13th juror,” when she interviewed Dr. Kinsey. What he forgot to mention was that Dr. Kinsey specifically said that he doesn’t believe O’Keefe’s arm injuries didn’t come from being hit by a car.

What’s really wild is that Brennan apparently lives on social media. I spoke with Brandi Churchwell who told me that Brennan never reached out to her, and she had no idea that her interview would be cited in a Karen Read hearing. Brennan misrepresented what Kinsey said, assumed that a medical doctor like Marie Russell sits on YouTube consuming content so she could form her medical opinions, and spewed this misinformation at the Daubert hearing for the sole intention of making the general public (and potential jurors) believe that a doctor conducted a scientific study that determined that John O’Keefe wasn’t bit by a dog.

 

4. Brennan claims that the feds employed a deputy medical examiner named John Walsh as part of their federal investigation into the investigation of John O’Keefe’s death, and that Dr. Walsh believes that John’s injuries are highly unlikely to be the result of an animal attack. 

What Brennan intentionally chose not to mention, was that the Commonwealth had this information before the first trial and chose not to use it because Dr. Walsh also opined that, “the absence of documented injuries to his torso, hips, and legs appear to be inconsistent with a vehicle impact.” Brennan also failed to mention that Dr. Walsh was basing his opinions based entirely off of Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello’s report, which didn’t mention anything about a dog attack.

 

5. Hank Brennan asked Dr. Russell if it would’ve helped her reach her conclusion that a dog bit John O’Keefe if she knew that Karen Read had told Gretchen Voss that she initially thought that maybe John had hit the back of her car or that she had run over his foot. He also asked her if she knew about the debunked “I hit him, I hit him” lie. 

It is laughable that Brennan thinks that a medical doctor should base her medical conclusions off of unconfirmed, inconsistent quotes from witnesses. Brennan knows this is stupid, but was playing it up for the cameras to affect public opinion.

“Would it help you if she told Boston Magazine that maybe John hit the back of her car and she ran over his foot? Would that help in your differential diagnosis?”

“It wouldn’t help because those wounds were caused by a dog.”

 

6. Hank Brennan was reprimanded at side bar for calling the plastic shards of tail light “glass” (1:16:15)

If the Commonwealth’s case is so strong then why the need to lie? The answer is, because it’s laughable that polycarbonate tail light could suddenly transform into a knife after hitting a human arm, and cause parallel, linear lacerations. None of the tail light had any blood on it either.

 

7. Hank Brennan cried about Karen Read’s demeanor. 

According to the McAlberts, at a side bar Judge Cannone told Karen Read’s attorneys to stop making faces at him while he was accosting Dr. Russell. Hank is a very soft individual who doesn’t like it when women express visual frustration about being framed for murder.

 

8. Hank Brennan mocked Dr. Russell for testifying that other possibilities of John’s injuries used in her differential diagnosis were “in her head” and not put in her report. 

Keep in mind, the Commonwealth is putting the following people on the stand:

• Nicole and Brian Albert, who testified that Michael Lank’s report stating that Caitlin Albert left at 12:15 AM instead of 1:45 AM is just plain wrong
• Michael Proctor, who wrongly wrote in his report that he towed Karen Read’s car at 5:30 PM
• Officer Saraf, who didn’t say ANYTHING in his report about Karen Read saying “this is all my fault,” but did testify at trial that she said that
• Jennifer McCabe, who claims she told police that she heard Karen Read say “I hit him,” despite the fact that it’s not listed in any reports
• Michael Trotta, who testified that he told Michael Proctor that Canton DPW plowed Fairview Road, despite the fact that Proctor’s report said that he told them Canton DPW didn’t plow Fairview Road at all

Brennan actually tried using Saraf’s testimony to trip up Dr. Russell as well. Turns out some morbidly obese lying cop who gave inconsistent testimony doesn’t affect her medical diagnosis. Someone needs to tell this clown that if he’s taking the position that “if it’s not in the report then it doesn’t count,” then his entire case will fall apart.

 

 

9. Hank Brennan tried to catch Dr. Russell in a “gotcha” moment by bringing up the lack of dog DNA on John’s clothing, but Dr. Russell astutely pointed out that there were issues with the collection. (1:27:30)

Michael Proctor could’ve wiped the swabs he sent to UC Davis on his ass. He is a pathological liar with no credibility.

 

10. Hank Brennan says the punctures on John’s arm are actually freckles because John was Irish. (2:34:40)

Really, Spanky? That’s the best you’ve got? Good luck with that one.

 

11. Laura Sullivan and the other mean girls of Canton once again proved that the biggest tragedy of John O’Keefe’s life were that his friends and family were such dreadful people, and the only person who seemed to give a shit about him is being framed for his murder. 

 

12. Dr. Russell says that her belief that John was bitten by a dog has grown stronger since the first trial. 

And this is exactly why Auntie Bev cannot disqualify her as a witness. If she was allowed to testify the first time, and she’s only become more resolute after learning more about the case since the first trial, then there’s absolutely no reason her testimony shouldn’t be heard in the second trial.

The bottom line is that Hank Brennan is desperate because he knows that the facts are against him. The only hope he has at a hung jury this time around is if he keeps qualified expert witnesses from testifying. Karen Read will never be convicted by 12 jurors, and it’s going to be a pleasure watching Brennan lose.