Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should in the Karen Read trial.

The trial of accused murderer Karen Read is well under way and this week, we only have one day of testimony. No court yesterday because of the Memorial Day holiday and three scheduled days off on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mean today was the only working day of the week and the Commonwealth chose to highlight the day by bringing two minor children to the stand.

The nephew and niece of murdered Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe were witnesses #45 and #46, respectively, today. The Commonwealth is under no obligation to call them to the stand and they are not listed as potential witnesses by the defense.

The two children are the children of John O’Keefe’s sister and brother in law, both of who passed away. John O’Keefe stepped up to raise the children after their death, despite not being married and having no other children of his own. The murder of John O’Keefe left the children without their uncle and perhaps more importantly, their caregiver and father figure. The children are now being raised by O’Keefe’s parents.

Undoubtedly, the children have been though so much. When I was told this morning that the children might be called today, as a mother, I really couldn’t believe it. The courtroom in itself, with the jurors just a few feet away, is intimidating for adults, let alone children. But they were also in close proximity to Karen Read herself, the person that is charged with the murder of their uncle. It seemed exceptionally cruel, even if they themselves don’t believe that Karen did it, to have them face to face with her. Furthermore, they had to identify her in the courtroom where it was noted for the court that the woman dressed in blue was indeed Karen Read.

I gave the Commonwealth the benefit of the doubt and assumed that the testimony they were going to provoke today was of high value. I thought that to put them up there, there must be some sort of information about Karen or her relationship with John that would really compel a reaction from the jurors. But there was nothing that stood out from the questioning that wasn’t heard before. We heard about the morning that John died at his home, we heard about the Florida vacation. We heard the same testimony but only this time, from the mouths of two traumatized children. From my perspective, there was not one moment that presented itself as a win for the Commonwealth.

On the contrary, it was the questioning from the defense, or lack there of that was most impactful. Defense Attorney David Yannetti chose to ask just a few questions of each child. After establishing that they each knew what it meant to “raise a hand in anger” he asked each of them if they had ever seen John do so towards Karen, to which they each responded no. He then asked if they had ever seen Karen do so towards John and they again, responded no.

Ending his line of questioning towards John O’Keefe’s nephew, Yannetti said:

“I am so sorry you were asked to be here.”

I couldn’t agree more.