Here are the facts of the case:
- A Boston police officer found dead in the snow in front of a fellow officer's house
- His girlfriend accused of hitting him with her vehicle and leaving him there to die
- The accused proclaiming her innocence and alleging a massive police coverup
- A lead investigator from the Massachusetts State Police who sent misogynistic and vulgar texts about the then-suspect, including one during the trial stating, "Hopefully she kills herself"
- The lead investigator not recusing himself despite the death occurring in the front yard of a friend whose son was a ringbearer at the trooper's wedding
- A docuseries filmed during the near three months of the first attempt to convict her, which ended in a mistrial.
All the elements of a big-screen legal thriller are present, but this case is all too real. Karen Read prepares to defend herself again after the Massachusetts Supreme Court denied her petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The second attempt to convict Read is scheduled to begin on April 1, 2025.
Two Very Different Theories
In the first trial, the prosecution and defense presented a pair of wildly different accounts of what happened on January 28 and 29, 2022. They do agree that Read and her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, were out drinking at a bar with friends and planned on going to fellow officer Brian Albert's house in Canton, Massachusetts, for an afterparty. The weather was bad, with snow on the ground and a heavy storm predicted.
Both sides also acknowledge that the couple was fighting and had been doing so for a while. There's also no disagreement that O'Keefe's lifeless body was found by Read at about 6 a.m. on Albert's front lawn.
Explanations of what happened beyond that go down extremely divergent paths. According to the police investigation and the prosecution at trial, Read dropped O'Keefe off at Albert's house before using a three-point turn to intentionally strike and kill him with her Lexus SUV.
The police report claims pieces of a taillight on Read's vehicle were found next to O'Keefe's body. After Read found O'Keefe's body, multiple paramedics on the scene testified she said, "I hit him. I hit him." The medical examiner's autopsy listed the death due to "blunt force trauma to the head and hypothermia."
On February 2, 2022, Read appeared in court to plead not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of a collision that caused injury or death. A grand jury indicted her on all three charges on June 10.
The Rashomon Effect
Read's defense offers a much different take. At 4 a.m., she claims woke up on the couch in O'Keefe's dwelling and became concerned when she realized that he hadn't returned yet. Calling friends for help, she eventually discovered O'Keefe's body on Albert's lawn at about 6 a.m.
Read suggests that O'Keefe was beaten in the house before his body was dumped outside and that the people in the house conspired to frame her for his death. Her defense alleged the victim had wounds on his arm consistent with a dog attack. Albert had a dog at the time but got rid of it and sold the house.
As for the claims that she'd confessed, Read insisted she was in shock and had actually said, "Did I hit him? Did I hit him?"
In March of 2024, Read's defense claimed that a federal probe had led to an FBI expert determining that the taillight damage to Read's SUV wasn't consistent with hitting a body. The next day, the Massachusetts State Police announced an internal investigation into Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the case.
Given his friendship with Albert and his wife and that their son was the ringbearer at Proctor's wedding, there was speculation about why he didn't recuse himself from the case. Based on texts sent before and during the trial, Proctor was subsequently relieved of his duties as a state trooper on July 1.
One of the people present at Albert's house reportedly did a search for "hos [sic] long to die in cold" on their phone at 2:27 a.m. on the day O'Keefe died. The prosecution claimed that the tab was opened at that time but that the search took place at 6:23 a.m. and 6:24 a.m. after his body was found.
The trial began on April 29, 2024. Final arguments were delivered on June 24. The jury claimed to be hopelessly deadlocked several times before the judge called a mistrial on July 1. The prosecution announced its intent to retry the case.
Read claimed that some jurors told her they'd agreed to acquit her of the murder and leaving the scene charges, and she filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to have those charges dismissed, arguing double jeopardy.
Both the judge in the first trial and the Massachusetts Supreme Court denied Read's petition. She'll face all three charges when the second trial begins on April 1. She's also facing a wrongful death civil suit filed by O'Keefe's family, but depositions have been delayed until after the criminal trial.
The Court of Popular Opinion
In addition to the docuseries scheduled to air the first episode on March 17, Read was featured in a lengthy article in Vanity Fair. There was also a lengthy podcast about Read's case, reminiscent of the Serial podcast about the Adnan Syed case. The exposure has drawn supporters to Read's plight and a deeper examination of how the police handled the case.
Read hopes the increased scrutiny helps her case. If convicted, she faces a life in prison sentence for the murder and another 30 years between the other charges.
Related Resources
- Legalese 101: What Is a Mistrial? (FindLaw's Legalese 101)
- So You're Going To Be a Witness! (FindLaw's Litigation and Disputes)
- Stages of the Expert Witness and Attorney Relationship (FindLaw's Practice Support)
