After eight weeks of testimony, a Massachusetts jury has found Karen Read not guilty of second-degree murder in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe, in what prosecutors called a tragic case of love turned lethal but what the defense claimed was a police cover-up.
Jurors spent about 22 hours deliberating before finding Read, 45, not guilty of the main charge but guilty of a lesser charge of drunk driving in the 2022 death of O’Keefe, 46, who was found unresponsive in a snowbank outside a Canton home after a night of drinking. Prosecutors argued Read hit her boyfriend with her SUV before driving away, but the defense maintained O’Keefe was killed inside the home and later dragged outside.
