Karen Read haters furious as they spot detail in juror's online bio that 'should have excluded her from the trial'
A juror in the controversial Karen Read trial has sparked outrage after online sleuths spotted alarming details in her X profile.
Paula Prado was the 11th of 12 jurors who spectacularly acquitted Read earlier this week over the murder of her Boston cop boyfriend earlier this week.
The verdict came Wednesday following two trials which gripped and divided the nation after the first collapsed into a mistrial.
Prado said 'justice was served' after Read, 45, was cleared over the January 2022 murder of John O'Keefe.
But now a detail in the juror's X bio has sparked concern and accusations of bias, which she was quick to slap down.
The short profile states that Prado is a Brazilian attorney and 'true crime lover with a soft spot for justice'.
The details have lead many to suggest that Prado should have been recused from jury duty.
'Juror number 11 in the Karen Read trial, already knows she's about to be held in contempt of court for juror fraud & deletes (one of) her X accounts,' one person wrote on X, in reference to Prado.
A juror in the controversial Karen Read trial has sparked outrage after online sleuths spotted alarming details in her X profile.
In her bio and her pinned post on X, she reveals she is a 'True Crime lover' and a 'licensed attorney in Brazil' sparking allegations of bias
Many found these details disqualifying and made posts criticizing her for even agreeing to be on the jury that would let Read go
Another wrote that they did not believe Prado, 'knew nothing about [Karen Read] prior to jury selection,' adding that, 'if you knew nothing, how is it one day later you are so informed?'
'So a self-described true crime lover was an unbiased juror in a high profile true crime trial in her backyard?' a third person questioned.
Many of the people who posted about this controversy pointed out that Prado appears to be following pro-Karen Read accounts, as well as Aidan Kearney, alias Turtleboy, a journalist who extensively covered the trial.
Others were frustrated that in her pinned post, Prado admits she is 'a licensed attorney in Brazil'.
While attorneys are called to serve on juries just like any other citizen, they are often struck from the final roster because of how their occupation could influence their approach as a juror.
Although Prado had many people attacking her, she had plenty of defenders, mirroring the polarizing nature of the trial itself.
One woman replied to one of the posts slamming Prado and claimed that she only started following the various accounts on Thursday, the day after Read was acquitted.
Prado then waded in and to try and quash the accusations.
'I am a licensed attorney in Brazil. I do not practice in Massachusetts. When I was asked what I do for work, I answered objectively,' Prado wrote.
'I have an MBA in Marketing and currently support a law office in Brazil with their digital marketing. I hope this clarifies things.'
Read was acquitted after jurors rejected the prosecution's argument that she hit her boyfriend with an SUV and left him to die in the snow outside a house party.
Her defense put forth a theory that Read was the victim of an elaborate plot to frame her by O'Keefe's law enforcement buddies, some of whom they suggested may have been the true culprits despite no charges being filed against them.
In an interview with CBS News, Prado slammed investigators on the Read case for not doing their jobs and proving the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.
'I just want to tell them it's not our fault that Karen Read was not convicted,' she said.
'Even if there is any chance that she is guilty of something, or hurt him somehow, the Commonwealth or the investigators didn't do their jobs to prove that to us.'
Prado said the prosecutors' case was full of inconsistencies and claimed there simply was not enough evidence to definitively conclude that a collision occurred on the day O'Keefe was found dead.
Read sobbed in court after she was found not guilty in her second trial. Her first trial ended in July 2024, after a deadlocked jury could not come to a verdict.
The jury in her retrial returned a not guilty verdict on the charges of murder and leaving the scene resulting in death on Wednesday. She was found guilty of Operating Under the Influence and sentenced to probation.
Read, who wore a light blue suit, cried and hugged her lawyer Alan Jackson after the judge delivered the news.
She has long maintained her innocence and insisted that she was framed by his police officer friends who were inside the house where he was found dead.
In the years her case has wound through the courts, she managed to gain a cult following of supporters from the widespread social media coverage and hit HBO documentary of the case.
Read was greeted by a massive crowd of pink-clad fans shouting 'Karen Read is free' after she left the court an innocent woman.
Read thanked her lawyers and supporters in a brief press conference outside of the courthouse.
'I could not be standing here without these amazing supporters who have supported me and my team financially and more importantly emotionally for almost four years,' she said.
'No one has fought harder for justice for John O'Keefe than I have. Than I have, and my team.'
The couple had been dating for two years at the time of O'Keefe's death. He had been serving on the Boston Police Department for 16 years.
Several witnesses in the case, including some of those who were in the house that fateful night, released a statement calling the verdict a 'miscarriage of justice'.
The witnesses who signed the statement included Jennifer McCabe, who made the infamous and misspelled 'Hos long to die in cold' Google search in the early morning hours of O'Keefe's death, and Brian Albert, who owned the home where the party took place.
Read's defense claimed that the search was evidence of additional involvement in O'Keefe's death, which was ruled a result of blunt force trauma and hypothermia.
'While we may have more to say in the future, 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,' the statement said.
Read's supporters told Daily Mail they are ecstatic with the verdict and they are ready to help fight for justice for O'Keefe.
'God, this is just. The American jury system prevailed, and the Commonwealth failed. The Commonwealth failed its people. The jury came back with a just verdict,' said Rita Lombardi, who had been at court nearly every day.
'This is history, and this is what ordinary people did: ordinary people raised their voices in positive and productive ways to speak truth to power.
'My message to the people who did this to John is that you failed miserably. It's just the beginning.'
The jury handed down its decision after deliberating for at least 22 hours.
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