>>1414316Karen Read was found not guilty on Wednesday of second-degree murder and manslaughter, charges stemming from the mysterious 2022 death of her Boston police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe.
After 21 hours of deliberation, jurors found Read guilty of operating under the influence of liquor, a lesser charge that was added as an option on the verdict slip for the second trial. She was sentenced to one year of probation.
Read, a former equity analyst, was accused of backing her car into O’Keefe and leaving him to die on another officer’s lawn.
She and her lawyers Alan Jackson, David Yannetti, and Elizabeth Little have maintained that Read was framed by officers from multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Massachusetts State Police and the Boston Police. (Previously, representatives for both parties declined to comment on these allegations to Vanity Fair. All law enforcement officials who testified denied any wrongdoing.)
In an exclusive three-day interview with VF last summer, Read described every detail of her legal nightmare at length.
She accused MSP trooper Michael Proctor, who was the lead investigator on her case, of planting evidence—pieces of her broken taillight—at the crime scene to protect the homeowner, Boston police officer Brian Albert. (Proctor denied this during the first trial. Albert has denied involvement in O’Keefe’s death.) The MSP trooper was dishonorably discharged earlier this year for other misconduct on this case; his appeal is pending, according to his lawyer. Proctor and Albert did not testify during the second trial.
Karen Read Tells Her Story (Part 1): A Murder Trial in Massachusetts
