Karen Read was acquitted Wednesday of murdering her Boston police officer boyfriend in a case that exposed a flawed investigation and allegations that authorities conspired to frame her for his death.
The case began when Read was accused of leaving her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, to die in a 2022 snowstorm after allegedly hitting him with her Lexus outside a suburban Boston house party, per the New York Post.
In her Wednesday retrial, Read, 45, was found guilty only of operating under the influence of liquor — a lesser sub-charge of the manslaughter count — resulting in a sentence of one year of probation.
Jurors acquitted her of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of an accident causing death after deliberating for about three full days, according to the New York Post.
“No one has fought harder for justice for John O’Keefe than I have — Than I have, and my team,” Read told reporters outside the courthouse, thanking her loyal advocates.
As the Daily Wire previously reported, this was Read’s second trial after a hung jury led to a mistrial last year. The retrial began in April and featured key differences, including the absence of lead investigator Michael Proctor, who was fired after sending lewd texts about Read during the first trial, calling Read a “wack job c***.”
Proctor’s misconduct, combined with other evidence of police misconduct throughout the investigation, put the spotlight on Read’s trial, garnering her thousands of supporters who came out in droves to support her at the retrial.
“We’re all Karen Read,” one supporter told NBC 10 Boston following the trial, while another exclaimed, “God blessed Karen Read. She didn’t even get to mourn John’s death,” per the Post.
Read’s defense team argued that O’Keefe was actually beaten, bitten by a dog, and then left outside the Canton home in freezing temperatures, claiming authorities constructed a conspiracy to frame her for his death.
The jury’s decision came after a confusing sequence of events on Wednesday afternoon. The jury initially indicated they had reached a verdict, then quickly informed a court officer they had changed their minds, before finally confirming they had reached a decision shortly after Judge Beverly Cannone provided an update.
During deliberations, jurors asked several questions that suggested they were unlikely to find Read guilty of killing O’Keefe, including inquiries about the timeframe for the drunk driving charge. The jury ultimately spent approximately three days deliberating before delivering their verdict.
Several people close to O’Keefe before his death released a statement decrying the verdict as a “devastating miscarriage of justice.”
“They have suffered through so much and deserved better from our justice system. While we may have more to say in the future, today we mourn with John’s family and lament the cruel reality that this prosecution was infected by lies and conspiracy theories spread by Karen Read, her defense team, and some in the media,” the statement read.
According to NBC, several people who signed the statement were accused by Read’s defense of being possible suspects in the death of O’Keefe, but were not adequately investigated due to police misconduct.