By Bill Pan
A Massachusetts jury on Wednesday found Karen Read not guilty in the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, almost a year after a closely watched trial ended in a mistrial.
Read had been accused of killing O‘Keefe, who died on Jan. 29, 2022. Prosecutors alleged that after a night of drinking, Read dropped O’Keefe off at a house party hosted by another Boston police officer, then struck him with her SUV as she drove away, leaving him in the snow where he later died.
Her defense team presented a different picture. They argued that O’Keefe was fatally injured in a fight inside the house and his body was dragged outside, accusing police officers who were at the party of tampering with evidence in order to frame Read.
Read pleaded not guilty to all three charges: second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death.
The jury acquitted Read on all major counts, finding her guilty only of operating a vehicle under the influence.
Judge Beverly Cannone of the Massachusetts Superior Court sentenced Read to one year of probation, the standard sentence for a first-time DUI offense. The most serious charge, second-degree murder, is punishable to life in prison.
This was Read’s second trial. The first ended in a mistrial in July 2024, after jurors deliberated for five days and reported they were hopelessly deadlocked.
The retrial began in April and spanned more than a month of testimony from dozens of witnesses. Deliberations began on June 13.
Alan Jackson, a California lawyer known for handling high-profile criminal cases, led the defense team. In closing arguments, he emphasized the core assertion that Read never hit O’Keefe with her car.
“There was no collision. There was no collision. There was no collision,” Jackson said in his closing argument.
The second time around, prosecutors did not try to convince jurors that Read intended to kill O’Keefe, but rather that she knowingly reversed her car in a way that could cause death.
Uncontested Facts
O’Keefe, 46, was a 16-year veteran of the Boston Police Department and was raising his niece and nephew. Read, now 45, had worked as an equity analyst and an adjunct professor at her alma mater, Bentley University. The couple had been dating for about two years when the incident occurred.
On the night of Jan. 28, 2022, the pair went out drinking in Canton. Shortly after midnight, Read dropped O‘Keefe off at the home of Brian Albert, a now-retired Boston police officer. At around 6 a.m., when O’Keefe had not returned or answered calls, Read and two friends went to Albert’s house and found him unresponsive in the snow.
O’Keefe was pronounced dead two hours later at a local hospital. The cause of death was ruled blunt force trauma to the head and hypothermia. Police investigators later reported finding drops of blood, a broken cocktail glass, and fragments of Read’s SUV taillight at the scene.
The high-profile case attracted widespread public attention, which intensified earlier this year with the release of a documentary series, “A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read.” The series features Read and her legal team, as well as friends of O’Keefe, reigniting national interest ahead of the retrial.
