NewYou can listen to Fox News articles now!
Karen Read’s defense says the expert is considered its final witness as she died in April at the trial of Boston police, John O’Keefe, who died in April.
Prosecutors claim he was the opposite of Lexus after reading one night of drinking, contrary to her Lexus during a record snowstorm on January 29, 2022.
Dr. Andrew Rentschler testified briefly Tuesday afternoon and is expected to return to his position at least half a day before the Department of Defense’s rest.
Karen Read reveals she won’t testify in her defense
Karen Read held talks with her attorney Alan Jackson during a retrial Tuesday, June 10, 2025 in Dedham, Massachusetts. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald via AP, swimming pool)
He is the second witness to crash reconstruction company Arcca, which now works in defense but is retained by the federal government before Read’s first trial, which ended with a deadlocked jury.
Earlier in the retrial, his colleague, Dr. Daniel Wolfe, testified that the damage to O’Keefe’s outfit and Read’s SUV was inconsistent with the collision between the 2021 Lexus LX 570 and the pedestrian.
Rentschler is a biomechanic and an expert on how physical and engineering forces work for the human body.
The dramatic court action of defense lawyers has legal experts talking about in Karen reading murder trial
Andrew Rentschler proves the injury that John O’Keefe suffered when she died Tuesday, June 10, 2025 in Dedham, Massachusetts. (Matt Stone / Boston Herald via AP, swimming pool)
Follow the Fox True Crime Team on X
“For example, a mechanical engineer might look at the size and dimensions of a piece of steel and steel. If you apply a certain direction in a certain direction, the steel will bend and eventually break.”
“As a biomechanics, biomechanics engineer, I do the same thing, but I look at the human body. How much force must be applied in what direction to get a specific type of damage.”
Rentschler testified that a 15-mph collision between the head of the crash dummy and a taillight like Read would not result in a skull fracture. Experts on both sides have previously testified that his fatal injury seemed to be consistent with a lagging fall – although defense forensic pathologist Dr. Elizabeth Laposata said he believed he landed on something “stiff” with texture, not the front lawn where he was found.
Karen Read’s silence in murder raises the defence stake
Officer John O’Keefe poses for his official title. O’Keefe’s girlfriend Karen Reed was found dead outside a Massachusetts house in January 2022 and is currently on trial for the murder. (Boston Police Department)
Get real-time updates directly The real crime center
Rentschler joined Laposata and another defense witness, Dr. Marie Russell, who argued that scratches and cuts in O’Keefe’s arm were not caused by the effects on the taillights. The defense theory is that they are bitten by dogs.
Read told reporters Tuesday that she would not testify in her defense – Renstchler was the last witness of her team’s plan to call.
“This is the right move,” said Massachusetts trial attorney Grace Edwards. “This is the only decision for the defendant to stand up. In this case, Karen will have to endure Brennan’s rigorous cross-examination, which includes clips from the documentary and any other evidence they don’t know from other statements she made.”
Click here to get the Fox News app
Edwards said she also had to face the problem of drinking, as expert witnesses repeatedly contradicted the prosecutor’s claims, which could break the “upward momentum” of her defense.
