Karen Read Acquitted of Murder of Boston Cop Boyfriend in Retrial
Karen Read Not Guilty of Murder ... In Retrial for Boston Cop BF's Death
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Karen Read -- the Massachusetts woman accused of murdering her Boston police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe in 2022 -- has just been found not guilty of murder.
Read was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of an accident causing injury or death. The jury found her guilty of a single count of OUI Wednesday ... misdemeanor Operating Under the Influence.
Prosecutors alleged in January 2022, Read got into a heated drunken argument with O’Keefe before backing up and hitting him with her SUV, killing him ... then fleeing the scene, leaving him to die in a friend's snow-covered front yard in Canton, Mass.
Read will serve a year of probation for the OUI conviction.
Read was retried after a hung jury prompted a mistrial in July 2024. Her retrial began in April, and final arguments finished Friday -- and the jury began deliberations that afternoon. Monday marked the first full day of deliberations ... and the verdict was reached Wednesday.
Read, who's now 45, has always maintained she’s innocent -- her team says she was framed, claiming O’Keefe actually got into a brawl with his fellow cops that night, who pinned his death on Read.
There were seven women and five men on this jury.
In Karen’s mistrial last year ... the jury voted to acquit her on second-degree murder and fleeing the scene -- but deadlocked 9-3 in favor of convicting her on vehicular manslaughter.
