Karen Read says she would have cheered O.J. Simpson's acquittal and more Vanity Fair interview takeaways
In a new Vanity Fair article released Thursday, Karen Read again reveals how she feels about her case, the investigation, and police in general, as jury selection nears its end for her retrial.
Read is about to face opening statements in her second trial, in which she is accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe.
Prosecutors said she hit O'Keefe with her SUV and left him to die in the snow in Canton in Jan. 2022. Read argues she is the victim of a cover-up involving law enforcement. She has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of personal injury and death.
Read's first trial ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury. Opening statements are expected to start next week.
Karen Read Vanity Fair interview takeaways
1. Karen Read says she would have cheered at O.J. Simpson's acquittal after what she's learned over the course of her own murder prosecution.
Read tells the publication that given her experience as a murder defendant going up against what she describes as a biased investigator, she now looks back at O.J. Simpson's 1995 acquittal differently.
"'I felt so strongly about the prosecution and his guilt and the fact that he spent all this money on this dream team of lawyers. They all looked like snake oil salesmen to me,'" Read told Vanity Fair, saying that her thinking has since changed. "I'm not saying I believe O.J. was innocent, but I believe that it was not a completely above-board investigation. Now that I am smarter, I would've cheered at that acquittal. You have to hold cops accountable.'"
2. Karen Read does not believe the federal investigation into her case has ended.
In February, WBZ-TV reported that sources confirmed a federal investigation into Read's case has closed with no charges being filed. Days later, prosecutors confirmed this information in open court.
In Vanity Fair, Karen Read said she's not convinced. Read told the reporter that in her mind, there are two possibilities.
The first, she says, is that "Someone is not being truthful." The second, Read told Vanity Fair is that the new U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts is choosing not to pursue the investigation.
"That hardly means anyone involved in murdering John or framing me was cleared of wrongdoing," Read said.
3. The Vanity Fair reporter called special prosecutor Hank Brennan "a match" for Defense Attorney Alan Jackson.
The reporter interviewed special prosecutor Hank Brennan's former partner, J.W. Carney. He called Brennan "the finest cross-examiner that I have ever seen."
That prompted Vanity Fair reporter Julie Miller to call Brennan "a match" for high powered defense attorney Alan Jackson.
The article referenced a notable moment of cross examination during Whitey Bulger's federal trial, in which Brennan and Carney represented Bulger.
4. Read criticized former state trooper Michael Proctor for releasing statements to the media through his wife and sister.
When Massachusetts State Police trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in Read's case, was fired last month, his sister and wife released family statements to multiple media outlets, including WBZ-TV.
"'All the statement did was put his vile behavior back in the news cycle. And he had to use two women to do it?' Read said to Vanity Fair. "Can't he speak for himself?" Read also called it "rich" that Proctor's family spoke about the personal invasion of having one's texts read out loud in court.
In a statement to WBZ, the Proctor family said Read's statements to Vanity Fair were "inaccurate, per usual."
"Michael spoke for himself on the stand under oath. Something Ms. Read will never do; she will never take the stand and speak to the jurors under oath and instead continues to spread a false story to the media," the Proctor family said.
"Michael was not biased, not corrupt, and certainly did not frame the defendant, which was supported by the findings from a Federal Investigation, MSP Internal Affairs investigation, and a Canton PD external audit," the Proctor family said. "The only remaining tactic the defense has right now is to try to draw media attention away from the mountain of evidence that points to Ms. Read's guilt."
5. Karen Read has apparently started watching a lot of Boston corruption and crime-related movies.
In recent interviews outside court with reporters, Karen Read quoted Shawshank Redemption, the 1994 movie about a prison escape.
In the Vanity Fair article, Read said she looks at movies about Boston differently now.
"[S]ome characters strike her as eerily familiar—like Matt Damon's self-righteous yet corrupt statie in Martin Scorsese's film The Departed: "He typifies Proctor's arrogance and excitement to play God in people's lives,'" the article reads.
Read has a pending appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, which is scheduled to be discussed at an upcoming conference on April 25.
