The judge in the Karen Read murder trial cleared the courtroom Wednesday as she spent nearly two hours talking to each juror individually.
Judge Beverly Cannone said she had become aware of an unspecified "issue" that she required her to speak with members of the jury.
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WATCH HERE"It is very, very important that no one discuss this case, don't let anyone talk to you about the case, no comments about the case," Cannone said.
All 18 members were back in the jury box after the delay, although two jurors swapped seats.
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SIGN UP The trial resumed as Dr. Aizik Wolf, a Miami neurosurgeon, took the stand to talk about the injuries to John O'Keefe, Read's Boston police officer boyfriend she is accused of hitting with her SUV and leaving to die in 2022 in Canton, Massachusetts.
Wolf said O'Keefe's wounds indicate that he fell backwards and landed on the ground.
"It's a classic blunt trauma laceration," he said.
He added that he does not believe O'Keefe died immediately.
"Neither the hypothermia nor this kind of head injury would kill you immediately, in any clinic experience I have," he said.
On cross-examination, Wolf acknowledged to defense attorney Robert Alessi that he is not a forensic pathologist. Speaking outside the courthouse Wednesday, Read dismissed his testimony.
"The doctor is not a neuropathologist, he doesn't perform autopsies, so I found him not qualified to speak about what a medical examiner should," she said.
Christina Hanley, a forensic scientist at the Massachusetts State Police crime lab who began testifying on Tuesday, also returned to the stand Wednesday.
She testified about six pieces of glass found on the back of Read's bumper. None of them match the broken glass or cup O'Keefe is said to have when he exited her SUV. There was an instrumental match with a single piece found by former State Trooper Michael Proctor, she said during cross-examination.
"Nothing else on the bumper matched the cup," Read said outside court. "What is the other breaking event of glass? There's multiple sources of glass."
Cannone said the trial is ahead of schedule, so she called off Thursday's half-day of testimony. The trial will remain in recess until after Memorial Day.
