Karen Read acquitted of murder in John O'Keefe death case

Karen Read was acquitted of murder and leaving the scene in the death of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. The jury convicted her only of operating under the influence, and she received one year of probation.

The case began with O’Keefe’s death on January 29, 2022, after he was found unconscious outside the Canton, Massachusetts, home of Boston police officer Brian Albert and later pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital. O’Keefe was 46 years old and had served 16 years with the Boston Police Department. Prosecutors argued Read struck him with her SUV. Read and her lawyers said she was being framed in a cover-up, a defense that helped turn the case into a clash over evidence, police conduct and reasonable doubt.

The first trial opened on April 16, 2024, in Norfolk Superior Court and ended in mistrial on July 1, 2024, after jurors told the judge they were deadlocked. In February 2025, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the mistrial decision and rejected Read’s double-jeopardy challenge, clearing the way for a second trial.

Read’s retrial began in April 2025 and produced a mixed verdict. Jurors acquitted her of murder and leaving the scene but found her guilty on the operating-under-the-influence charge. Outside the courthouse, supporters gathered and cheered the verdict.

O’Keefe’s friends and family disputed Read’s post-verdict comments, and Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey’s office declined to give a detailed post-verdict statement, issuing only a brief acknowledgment that the jury had spoken.