Karen Read celebrated outside the courthouse and made a bold statement in her first public remarks after being found not guilty of murdering her Boston police officer boyfriend on Wednesday. “No one has fought harder for justice for John O’Keefe than I have. Than I have and my team,” she said outside the courthouse in Dedham, Massachusetts, as she thanked her cheering supporters.
The glamorous financial analyst was found guilty only of a DUI offense, and was cleared of the more severe charges — including the second-degree murder, manslaughter, and fleeing the scene of a fatal accident — during her second trial in the case of the murder of her cop boyfriend.
Read Not Guilty
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“I could not be standing here without these amazing supporters who supported me and my team financially and more importantly emotionally for almost four years,” she also said to adoring fans.
The McCabe and Albert families — close friends of John O’Keefe and key witnesses in the murder trial — issued a statement condemning the verdict, calling it a “miscarriage of justice.”
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“Today, our hearts are with John and the entire O’Keefe family. They have suffered through so much and deserved better from our justice system,” the statement said.
“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 result is a devastating miscarriage of justice.”
As Read left the Norfolk County courthouse in Dedham for the final time related to the criminal case, she placed her right hand over her heart while supporters broke out in loud applause.
Relieved at Last
Earlier on Wednesday, Read broke down in tears in the courtroom after she was found not guilty of murder in the retrial over the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend — a case that drew nationwide attention.
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The 45-year-old was accused of drunkenly hitting O’Keefe, with her SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm on January 29, 2022.
Read has repeatedly claimed she was innocent, alleging that she was set up by her boyfriend’s fellow police officers who were inside the house where his body was found.
She was previously faced the charges at a trial last year, but after five days of jury deliberations without a unanimous verdict, Judge Beverly Cannone said a mistrial due to the deadlock over whether she had intentionally killed her boyfriend.
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The case garnered a cult following on social media and through a popular HBO documentary, earning Read a devoted group of supporters.
