Karen Read was found not guilty in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend on Wednesday after the conclusion of a second criminal trial.
She was accused of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of a deadly crash. The jury did find Read guilty of a lesser charge of driving under the influence.
Jurors began deliberating on June 13 after weeks of often heated testimony from both sides. It took a little over 21 hours for them to reach a decision.
Read, 45, was accused of striking John O'Keefe with her car outside a suburban Boston house party and leaving him to die in the snow in January 2022. She was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene.
Read's lawyers say O'Keefe, 46, was beaten, bitten by a dog and then left outside a home in Canton in a conspiracy orchestrated by police that included planting evidence against Read.
It was the state’s second attempt to convict Read. The first trial ended July 1, 2024, in a mistrial due to a hung jury.
The defense said several jurors from the first trial came forward and said the jury was set to acquit Read of two charges but deadlocked on a third, leading to the mistrial last year.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson began his closing argument Friday by repeating three times: "There was no collision." He told the jury that Read is an innocent woman victimized by a police cover-up in which officers sought to protect their own and obscure the real killer.
Prosecutor Hank Brennan opened his own closing by saying Read callously decided to leave O'Keefe dying in the snow, fully aware that he was gravely injured. He argued that she made the "choice to let" him die, going further than prosecutors in the first trial in spelling out a motive.
Jackson repeatedly attacked the lead investigator in the case, former Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, who was fired after sharing offensive and sexist texts about Read with friends, family and co-workers. He said Proctor's "blatant bias" tainted every aspect of a corrupt and flawed investigation and noted how prosecutors refused to put him on the stand, as they did during the first trial.
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Brennan said Read's blood alcohol level was two to three times the legal limit after the couple downed multiple drinks at two Canton bars. The couple, whose "toxic" relationship was "crumbling," had an argument on the way to the house party that increased tensions and ultimately led to O'Keefe's death, the prosecutor said.
