Karen Read was acquitted Wednesday of the most serious charges in the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe. Why did the jury clear her and what’s next for Read?
Read was found not guilty of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of bodily injury in O’Keefe’s death in Canton, Massachusetts. She was only convicted on a charge of operating under the influence (OUI) and was sentenced to one year of probation.
Former CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman, who’s covered the case extensively, said the verdict was “predictable.”
Karen Read case “riddled with reasonable doubt”
“This was a case that I think was riddled with reasonable doubt,” Klieman said Thursday on “CBS Mornings.”
“One of things that people don’t understand until they get in it on a jury is what that means. If you think someone’s guilty, if you guess they’re guilty, you suspect they’re guilty, but you don’t have a conviction to a moral certainty, you must acquit. Doesn’t mean a person is innocent. Just means the Commonwealth didn’t prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Karen Read trial experts “cancel each other out”
Both the prosecution and Read’s attorneys presented experts to bolster their cases, and described very different versions of events.
Prosecutor Hank Brennan said Read “was drunk, she hit him, then she left him to die.” Read’s attorney Alan Jackson told the court, “There was no collision,” and that “There is no evidence that John was hit by a car. None. How much more reasonable doubt could there be?”
“It depends on which expert you believe,” Klieman said of the jury. “You had Commonwealth experts who had one theory, and you had very good defense experts who had the opposite theory. And the defense expert said that car, Karen Read’s car, never hit John O’Keefe. They cancel each other out as experts. And if that isn’t doubt, I don’t know what is.”
Klieman also highlighted the role of lead investigator Michael Proctor, who was fired by Massachusetts State Police for his conduct while handling Read’s case.
“He was someone who also supervised one of the most sloppy police investigations of all time,” she said.
Karen Read attorneys had “dress rehearsal” advantage
In 2024, Read’s first trial ended with a mistrial due to a “starkly divided” hung jury. In her second trial, jurors deliberated for about 20 hours.
“In this case, the defense clearly had an advantage because they had had a dress rehearsal. They knew what their weak points were,” Klieman said.
“Alan Jackson is one of the best criminal defense lawyers in the country. And Hank Brennan is also right up there as a defense lawyer. He was appointed as special prosecutor. So, for a student of the law, if you can take emotion out of it, to watch them work was a thing of real beauty and it could teach young lawyers how to try cases.”
What’s next for Karen Read?
Read is still facing a civil wrongful death lawsuit that was filed by O’Keefe’s family in August 2024. It was filed in Plymouth Superior Court in Brockton, Massachusetts, and seeks at least $50,000 in damages. Klieman said the civil case will feature a much lighter burden of proof than the criminal trial.
“First of all, we have to remember that someone died here who was a very decent human being by all accounts,” Klieman said. “The civil case is in a civil court, it’s in a different courthouse, different burden of proof, proof to [standard of] ‘a preponderance of evidence.’ As I always say, that’s like a feather on the scale, whereas proof beyond a reasonable doubt, you need like a lead balloon. And so is there a great chance that they will prevail — that is, the family — in the civil court? Yes, they have a great chance. And very smart, they also sued the bars who they claimed over-served her. And there was no question she was drunk that night.”
Read has not been deposed yet in the civil case. A judge ruled in November that it could wait until her second criminal trial ended.
In a civil trial, Read would only be liable for monetary damages if she’s found responsible for O’Keefe’s death.