Karen Read murder case verdict reached after deadlocked first trial
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Jurors have reached a verdict in Karen Read’s retrial in the murder of her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe, who prosecutors allege she killed in a drunken hit-and-run during a blizzard on Jan. 29, 2022.
The trial saw more than 30 days of testimony and four days of deliberation.
Read faced charges of second-degree murder, drunken driving manslaughter and fleeing the scene of a deadly accident. Her first trial on the same charges ended without a verdict last year when jurors deadlocked.
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This time around, the commonwealth appointed a special prosecutor, high-powered defense attorney Hank Brennan, and Read added New York defense attorney Robert Alessi to a team that included Los Angeles’ Alan Jackson and Boston’s David Yannetti.
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Read found O’Keefe around 6 a.m. lying in the snow and unresponsive. She was with two other women – Jennifer McCabe and Kerry Roberts, both of whom testified against her during the trial.
They said Read called them in a panic that morning and said she couldn’t find O’Keefe.
McCabe testified that on the morning in question, Read repeated three times, “I hit him.”
Paramedic Timothy Nuttall, the first witness to take the stand in the trial, said he overheard Read saying the same thing – three times again.
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The couple and other friends and acquaintances, including McCabe, had been out drinking in downtown Canton before they were invited to an after-party at the home of Brian Albert, who testified in the first trial but not the second.
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O’Keefe was found on Albert’s lawn hours later.
Witnesses said they saw Read’s car outside but neither she nor O’Keefe went into the gathering. She did not testify in her own defense – but she told reporters outside court that she saw O’Keefe go inside before she drove away.
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Throughout the trial, Brennan played clips of Read’s televised interviews, giving jurors a chance to hear not only her version of events, but other commentary she gave journalists, including how she was spiking her own drinks at the bar before O’Keefe’s death and an encounter with O’Keefe’s mother afterward.
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Prosecutors allege Read hit O’Keefe and drove to his house without him. Read’s defense has argued she never hit him, blaming his injuries on a dog attack and an altercation with other men at the party.