A jury found Karen Read not guilty of second-degree murder Wednesday in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend but guilty of a lesser charge of drunk driving. The verdict in the polarizing and highly watched case comes nearly a year after a separate jury deadlocked over Read's involvement in the January 2022 death of John O'Keefe and the judge declared a mistrial, the AP reports. The verdict is a huge victory for Read's lawyers, who have long asserted she was framed by police after dropping O'Keefe off at a party at the home of a fellow officer. As in the first trial, attorneys spent months presenting their case, featuring hundreds of pieces of evidence and dozens of witnesses.
Prosecutors argued the 45-year-old Read hit O'Keefe, 46, with her SUV before driving away, but the defense maintained O'Keefe was killed inside the home and later dragged outside. The jury began deliberating on Friday. NBC Boston reports that they had questions for the judge on Tuesday, including, "If we find not guilty on two charges but can't agree on one charge, is it a hung jury on all three charges or just one charge?"
Read was found not guilty of second-degree murder, manslaughter, and leaving the scene outside Boston. A second-degree murder conviction would have carried a life sentence. She was sentenced to a year of probation on the operating under the influence charge, MassLive reports. The New York Times reports that Read embraced her attorneys after the verdict was read and hundreds of her supporters could be heard cheering outside the courtroom. (More Karen Read stories.)
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