A jury has found Karen Read not guilty of second-degree murder, but guilty of drunk driving in the death of her police officer boyfriend in a divisive and high-profile case that dueling lawyers presented as either a tragic love story or a sinister cover-up.
Read, 45, was accused of fatally striking her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, 46, with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow outside a house party where other local police and a federal agent were closing out a night of drinking in 2022.
She was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene, but jurors – who had begun deliberating on 13 June – dismissed the main charges that would have landed her with a hefty jail term.
Cheers from the crowd outside could be heard in the courtroom as the verdict was read. With cheering supporters, Read departed the courthouse with her attorneys and family.
“No one has fought harder for justice for John O’Keefe than I have,” Read said.
It was a huge victory for Read’s lawyers, who have long asserted she was framed by police after dropping O’Keefe off at a party at the home of a fellow officer. Prosecutors argued the 45-year-old Read hit O’Keefe, 46, with her SUV before driving away, but the defense maintained O’Keefe was killed inside the home and later dragged outside in a conspiracy orchestrated by police that included planting evidence.
Meanwhile, prosecutors described Read as a scorned lover who chose to leave O’Keefe dying in the snow after striking him with her SUV outside the house party.
It was the state’s second attempt to convict Read. The first Read trial ended on 1 July 2024 in a mistrial due to a hung jury.
Describing O’Keefe as a “good man” who “helped people”, special prosecutor Hank Brennan told jurors during closing arguments that O’Keefe needed help the night he died and the only person who could provide it was Read. Instead, she drove away in her SUV.
“She was drunk. She hit him and she left him to die,” he said.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson rejected the idea that there was ever a collision at all. He and the defense called forward expert witnesses who agreed.
“There is no evidence that John was hit by a car. None. This case should be over right now, done, because there was no collision,” Jackson said during closing arguments.
Read’s father, Bill Read, told reporters outside the courthouse he felt relief and “tremendous thanks” to God when the verdict was read.
“We need to get our life back together, and we will,” he said.
Asked why he thought the second trial’s outcome was different, he said: “Another year of information circulating in the public, and people are aware of what’s happened.”
