What Karen Read is accused of and what her attorneys say happened to John O'Keefe
Karen Read's second trial is getting underway in the death of Boston police officer John O'Keefe, who she was dating when he was found dead outside a Canton, Massachusetts home in 2022. Here is a look at what Read is accused of, and what her defense attorneys say happened to O'Keefe.
Death of John O'Keefe
O'Keefe was found dead in the early morning hours of January 29, 2022 on the lawn of a home at 34 Fairview Road in Canton during a heavy snowstorm. The home was owned at the time by Brian Albert, who has since retired as an officer with the Boston Police Department.
Read is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of personal injury and death. She has pleaded not guilty. Her first trial ended in 2024 with a mistrial due to a "starkly divided" hung jury.
According to the prosecution, though Read and O'Keefe were dating, they had a deteriorating relationship.
What is Karen Read accused of?
The couple went out drinking the night of January 28, 2022 with a group that included Brian Albert, and several other people. Prosecutors allege that when they arrived at 34 Fairview Road in Canton, O'Keefe got out of Read's Lexus SUV and she ran him over and drove away, leaving him to die in the snow.
Read was arrested on February 2, 2022 and made her first appearance in court that day, pleading not guilty.
A prosecution expert testified during Read's first trial that when her blood was tested at the hospital around 9 a.m. on January 29, 2022, Read's blood alcohol content (BAC) was 93 milligrams per deciliter, or 0.093%. The legal BAC limit in Massachusetts for driving is 0.08%.
According to testimony, using a formula assuming the last drink Read had was around 12:45 a.m., the expert estimated that Read's BAC at the time of O'Keefe's death would have been a minimum of 0.135% or a maximum of 0.292%.
Jurors in Read's first trial also heard that she called O'Keefe more than 50 times between midnight and 6 a.m. on January 29, 2022, though he never picked up. Angry voicemails Read left O'Keefe on his phone were played in court.
"John, I f---ing hate you," Read is heard yelling in the first voicemail left at 12:37 a.m. "John, I'm here with your f---ing kids and nobody knows where the f--- you are, you f---ing pervert," Read says in another.
Jennifer McCabe, Brian Albert's sister-in-law, joined Read and Kerry Roberts searching for O'Keefe after he did not return home. The women found him in the snow outside Brian Albert's home and called police. Several first responders testified that they heard Read say some version of "I hit him" when they responded to the scene.
"'I hit him, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.' Those are the words of the defendant. Four times," said Adam Lally, who was the lead prosecutor during Read's first trial, as part of his closing argument. "You heard testimony from four different witnesses who overheard and observed those statements from the defendant on January 29, 2022."
Police said a broken cocktail glass and pieces of taillight were found at the scene hours after O'Keefe's body was discovered. They said additional taillight evidence was found in the days that followed once the snow began to melt.
What does Karen Read say happened to John O'Keefe?
Following Read's initial court appearance on February 2, 2022, her defense attorney David Yannetti spoke to reporters.
"I am disappointed in the rush to judgement against my client. I think there was a lot of political pressure on this district attorney's office to bring charges in light of the fact a police officer was the victim here, but I will tell you this is a defensible case," Yannetti said. "I will tell you that my client has no criminal intent. She loved this man. She is devastated at what happened and she is innocent and that will come out at trial."
High-profile defense attorney Alan Jackson was later among those added to Read's legal team.
During a pretrial hearing and later at her first trial, Jackson and Yannetti presented their alternate theory of what they claim actually happened to O'Keefe.
Read's attorneys say that O'Keefe was not hit and killed by a vehicle. Instead, they argue, he was beaten inside Brian Albert's home, then dragged outside and left to die in the yard in the middle of a blizzard. They say cuts and scratches on O'Keefe's arm were not caused by Read's taillight. Instead, they argue, the wounds were caused by Brian Albert's German shepherd Chloe. The dog has since been re-homed out of state after attacking another dog and its owner several months after O'Keefe's death.
Attorneys have said that taillight evidence found on the scene was planted after the fact in an attempt to frame Read.
"There are people that were in that house that are involved," Jackson said in May 2023. "Brian Albert is involved. Jennifer McCabe is involved. The rest of the folks that were in that house, there's some level of involvement by every one of them. Every single one of them. We're not going to rest until we get to the bottom of exactly who's behind this coverup. Not only Karen Read deserves this. John O'Keefe deserves this, and has deserved this from moment one. And that's why they're not going to rest."
Several Massachusetts State Police troopers have been punished following Read's first trial for their conduct during the investigation. That includes lead investigator Michael Proctor, who was fired.
In Read's first trial, the defense was allowed to mount a third-party culprit defense. They explained to jurors how Brian Albert and his nephew Colin Albert, along with Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Brian Higgins could have killed O'Keefe during a fight.
During the retrial, Judge Beverly Cannone ruled the defense will be able to make its case against Higgins and Brian Albert, but not against Colin Albert.
A jury was seated Tuesday, April 15 for the second trial. Opening statements will be presented on Tuesday, April 22. The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks.
For a full timeline of the Karen Read case, click here.
