In Dedham, Massachusetts, the second murder trial of Karen Read, a 45-year-old financial analyst accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe, is underway, with opening statements captivating a courtroom and a divided community. The trial, which began with jury selection on April 1, 2025, follows a mistrial in July 2024 when a hung jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict. Read faces charges of second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death, stemming from O’Keefe’s death on January 29, 2022. She has pleaded not guilty, and her defense team, led by prominent attorney Alan Jackson, asserts that she is the victim of an elaborate law enforcement cover-up.
The case centers on the events of a snowy night in Canton, Massachusetts, when O’Keefe, a 16-year veteran of the Boston Police Department, was found unresponsive in the front yard of fellow officer Brian Albert’s home at 34 Fairview Road. Prosecutors, now led by Special Prosecutor Hank Brennan, allege that Read, after a night of heavy drinking, struck O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV while making a three-point turn and left him to die in a snowstorm. An autopsy determined O’Keefe’s cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head and hypothermia. Evidence presented in the first trial included O’Keefe’s hair and DNA found on Read’s SUV bumper, a broken taillight with matching plastic pieces at the scene, and witness testimonies claiming Read said, “I hit him,” multiple times after discovering O’Keefe’s body.
Read’s defense, however, paints a starkly different picture, arguing that O’Keefe was beaten inside Albert’s home, possibly attacked by a German shepherd, and then dumped outside to frame Read. Jackson, alongside attorneys David Yannetti, Elizabeth Little, Robert Alessi, and newcomer Victoria George—a former alternate juror from the first trial—has highlighted inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case. They point to the lack of significant bruising on O’Keefe’s body, which defense experts, including retired forensic pathologist Dr. Marie Russell, argue is inconsistent with a vehicular collision. Crash reconstructionists from ARCCA Inc. have also testified that the damage to Read’s SUV does not align with striking O’Keefe. The defense has further questioned the integrity of the investigation, citing a mirrored surveillance video of Read’s SUV at the Canton Police Department garage and the use of improper evidence collection methods, such as Solo cups and grocery bags.
The trial has drawn national attention due to its sensational elements, including allegations of police misconduct and a polarized public response. Supporters of Read, often wearing pink and chanting “Free Karen Read” outside Norfolk Superior Court, believe she is innocent and targeted as a “convenient outsider.” They have clashed with O’Keefe’s supporters, who wear blue to honor the fallen officer. A court-mandated 200-foot buffer zone around the courthouse aims to shield jurors from external influence, a measure upheld by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court after Read’s supporters filed a federal lawsuit claiming it violated their constitutional rights.
The first trial was marred by controversy surrounding Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator, who was fired in March 2025 for violating department policies. Proctor admitted to sending derogatory text messages about Read, calling her a “whack job” and mocking her medical issues, and sharing investigative details with his sister, a friend of Albert’s sister-in-law. These revelations, coupled with Proctor’s undisclosed ties to the Albert family, fueled the defense’s claims of a biased investigation. Proctor remains on witness lists for both sides, but legal experts suggest his testimony could be unpredictable given his termination.
Opening statements, delivered on April 22, 2025, set the stage for a contentious six-to-eight-week trial. Brennan, a seasoned attorney known for representing Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, is expected to streamline the prosecution’s case, focusing on physical evidence like the taillight fragments and Read’s alleged statements to first responders. Jackson, in contrast, has declared that the state has “no case,” emphasizing investigative flaws and alternative theories about O’Keefe’s death. He has suggested that O’Keefe’s Apple Health data, showing 80 steps and three flights of stairs after arriving at Albert’s home, contradicts claims that O’Keefe never entered the house.
The trial has also seen legal maneuvering outside the courtroom. Read’s team appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in early April 2025, arguing that retrying her on second-degree murder and leaving the scene charges constitutes double jeopardy, as some jurors from the first trial reportedly reached not guilty verdicts on those counts. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson denied Read’s request to pause the trial on April 9, though the Court will consider her appeal on April 25. Additionally, O’Keefe’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Read and two Canton bars in August 2024, alleging she struck O’Keefe and that the bars overserved her. The civil case is on hold pending the criminal trial’s outcome.
Public fascination with the case has been amplified by media coverage, including a Max docuseries, A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read, and a Vanity Fair interview with Read. Massachusetts blogger Aidan Kearney, known as “Turtleboy,” has been a vocal supporter, though he faces charges of witness intimidation related to the case. Prosecutors allege Read and Kearney communicated nearly 200 times in 2023, sharing non-public case information, which they intend to use as evidence of her “consciousness of guilt.”
As the trial progresses, legal experts anticipate challenges for the prosecution. Rosanna Cavallaro, a law professor at Suffix University, notes that the forensic evidence remains “incoherent,” with O’Keefe’s injuries not fully aligning with a car strike. The defense needs only to establish reasonable doubt, leveraging the investigation’s missteps and the community’s deep divisions. With a full jury of 12 members and six alternates empaneled on April 15, the case now hinges on how jurors interpret the complex web of evidence, testimony, and competing narratives.
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