The Karen Read retrial may be over, but we'll never truly be free of the case. (And now what do we do with ourselves?)
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All around the world, people who couldn't even believe they cared held their breath until, finally, the verdict was read in open court: Karen Read was not guilty of murdering John O'Keefe. Not guilty of manslaughter. Guilty only of operating a vehicle under the influence.
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The defense team hugged. The victim's family disappeared from view, as if they had done something wrong. Law enforcement mustered on the steps of the courthouse.
The pink bosoms heaved, their hearts full, their eyes on the courthouse doors. It was like waiting for the royal family, or maybe the pope, to take the balcony. Finally, their icon appeared. Read and attorney Alan Jackson flashed the American Sign Language sign for 'I love you.' Attorney David Yannetti pumped his fists.
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'No one has fought harder for justice for John O'Keefe than I have,' Read said.
It was glorious — the release they'd all been waiting for — but eventually the stars left the stage and climbed into dark cars and pulled away, and the crowd dispersed and the traffic in downtown Dedham began to flow, and that seemed to be that. The end of an era.
Supporters of Karen Read react after she was found not guilty of second-degree murder on Wednesday in Dedham.
Josh Reynolds/Associated Press
Or, was it? Painful as it is, perhaps now is a good time to recall the
Indeed, no sooner had the jury delivered its verdict than the last three and a half years began to feel like merely the prelude to an even juicer season, starting, of course, with the hunt for the real killer!
'The time has come to scrutinize the actions of [people] who were caught lying — committing perjury during the trial,' a Read supporter wrote on Facebook.
On the X platform, the snark and 'gotchas' continued with zest, as if the trial hadn't ended.
'Imagine getting convicted of a DUI and you walk outside to streets full of people cheering you on,' one post read.
'The saddest part of the Karen Read saga is John O'Keefe is still dead and the people who actually murdered him will never be punished thanks to the thin blue line,' read another.
It was the same story outside the courthouse, where Read supporters were trying to propel the action forward.
'Bev needs to go! Bev needs to go!' the crowd chanted, waving American flags and gunning for Judge Beverly Cannone.
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Aidan Kearney, the now-supercharged blogger known as Turtleboy, announced that he was at last free to reveal that he's involved with a
The plot points kept coming. Some of the trial's witnesses
put out a somewhat ominous statement. '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,' read the statement from Jennifer McCabe, who was with Read when she found O'Keefe's body in the snow; Brian Albert, who lived at the home where O'Keefe's body was found, and others.
The town of Canton, apparently desperate to move forward (as if), put out its own declaration. 'We encourage members of the community to move forward together, treating one another with respect through civil, constructive dialogue,' it said.
And throughout the region, regular citizens began to face a scary reality: themselves. What would they turn to to take their minds off their own lives now?
What
are
people
going to do now that they don't have the Read trial to watch or discuss or argue over? Sure, there are books to read, hobbies to develop, and nonprofits at which to volunteer.
Then again, considering the pending
Beth Teitell can be reached at
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Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
‘Too many holes.' Juror on Karen Read trial speaks about case.
'Seeing John O'Keefe's family leaving the courthouse melt[ed] my heart,' she said. 'I'm a mother and I saw her pain through all those days.' On Wednesday, Advertisement She will serve one year of probation as a first-time offender. The decision marked the end of a Prado said she did not realize the extent of the media coverage of the case. When jurors entered the courthouse, she occasionally saw a few people wearing pink shirts, but did not know that crowds of Read supporters were gathering outside the courthouse. Advertisement Throughout her time on the jury, Prado said she didn't hear 'anything' inside the courthouse, and that the windows in the deliberation room were covered. She said she thought 'justice was served' by the verdict and is '100 percent convinced' Read is not responsible for O'Keefe's death. She is 'happy' for Read and her family, she said. 'We couldn't prove there was a collision, and she was responsible for John's death,' Prado said. 'The Commonwealth and the investigators didn't do their jobs to prove that to us.' Prado said she initially thought Read may be guilty of manslaughter but changed her mind about three weeks ago after evidence of DNA was presented, which she found inconclusive. The investigation had 'too many flaws' and felt 'not precise,' she said. 'I just realized there [were] too many holes that we couldn't fill, and there's nothing that put her on the scene in our opinion, besides just drop[ping] John O'Keefe off,' Prado said. 'Too many pieces were missing.' At the beginning of deliberations, the jurors decided not to vote, and instead went through the testimony, videos, and other evidence, Prado said. The group then talked about the charges one by one, eliminating the ones they didn't agree with, until they reached a verdict, she said. Prado said deliberations were respectful and the jurors listened to each other's opinions. The discussion never got 'heated,' she said. The Advertisement 'They did a very good job,' Prado said. She also said the prosecution's argument that the injuries to O'Keefe's arm came from the taillight of Read's SUV 'didn't make much sense,' and there were 'too many coincidences' in the evidence to blame Read. 'I don't think the car killed John O'Keefe,' she said. In terms of the OUI, Prado said it was the 'only thing' the jurors could charge Read with because she said in a video played in court that she was drinking and video footage from the bars showed her drinking. 'We couldn't let that pass,' Prado said. Asked about what she thought happened to O'Keefe, Prado said Read might have backed up her SUV and 'touched him somehow' but that was not what caused his death. 'In my opinion, he definitely went inside, and something happened inside the house,' Prado said. However, Prado said she 'can't say' Read was framed as she just began looking at more details on the case online. Prado said the jury knew the case was a retrial and the jurors were 'positive' they would discuss all the evidence to reach a decision. 'We definitely didn't want to hang this jury,' Prado said. 'The amount of money spent on this trial made me very upset, and I'm sure made my fellow jurors upset too.' Prado said she 'did not find it strange' that she didn't hear from Advertisement Prado said she wants to tell the O'Keefe family it's 'not your fault' that Read was not convicted. 'I really, really hope there is a way for the case to be reopened, and they can investigate again and find who actually did that to John,' Prado said. Ava Berger can be reached at
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Brian Albert tells ABC News he would've ‘taken a bullet' for John O'Keefe
At both of Read's trials, her lawyers stressed that Albert did not go outside to investigate what was happening outside his house when law enforcement and paramedics arrived there early on Jan. 29, 2022, amid heavy snowfall, after Read, Albert's sister-in-law Jennifer McCabe, and another woman, Kerry Roberts, found O'Keefe's body on Albert's front yard on Fairview Road. Albert told ABC that McCabe had burst into his room that morning and told him and his wife that O'Keefe was lying dead on the lawn. Advertisement He said O'Keefe 'was already gone' to the hospital by that point and 'there was nobody to save,' adding that police were in his home when he came downstairs. 'That's the most ridiculous question that people always ask,' Albert told ABC. 'It makes zero sense. What am I supposed to do, run out front in my underwear and start running yellow tape around the fire hydrant?' Advertisement Albert spoke to ABC News with his wife, Nicole Albert; her sister, Jennifer McCabe and McCabe's husband, Matt McCabe; and Chris Albert, Brian Albert's brother. They all testified at one or both of the high-profile trials in Norfolk Superior Court. At Read's retrial, jurors on Wednesday cleared Read, 45, of killing O'Keefe, her boyfriend, rejecting the prosecution's assertion that she backed her Lexus SUV into him in a drunken rage after dropping him off on Fairview following a night of bar-hopping. Her lawyers said O'Keefe entered the property, where he was fatally beaten and possibly mauled by the Albert family's German Shepherd before his body was planted on the front lawn. 'You do realize for this conspiracy to be true, it would take 30 to 50 people,' Brian Albert told ABC. 'You'd have to have multiple cops in two different police departments, multiple civilians, the medical examiner, firemen, EMTs, you name it. That's how preposterous and silly this is. ... I don't understand how people bought this.' At trial, the defense stressed that Read in the weeks leading up to O'Keefe's death had exchanged flirtatious text messages with ATF Agent Brian Higgins, who was at the second bar with the group and later went to an afterparty at the Albert home. The jury also saw surveillance footage of Higgins gesturing aggressively toward O'Keefe at the second bar before the afterparty, and additional footage of Higgins walking into the Canton police station, where he had an office, around 1:30 a.m., about an hour after authorities said Read struck O'Keefe. Advertisement Higgins is seen walking inside the station before returning back to the parking lot, where he retrieves an empty duffel bag from a vehicle. He also retrieves a garden hoe from another area of the lot. Higgins testified at the first trial that he went to the station to move cars due to the snowstorm. He also said he discarded his phone a few months after Read was charged with killing O'Keefe, because he learned one of his targets in an ATF probe had obtained his number online. He did not testify at the retrial. The case also attracted the attention of the Justice Department, which launched a separate federal grand jury investigation into state law enforcement's handling of O'Keefe's death. No one was charged with any federal crimes. Read attorney David Yannetti, during pretrial proceedings before the first trial in March 2024, said in court that text messages recovered as part of the federal case showed a rift between the Alberts and Higgins. Citing one text sent to Higgins from Kevin Albert, Brian Albert's brother and a Canton police detective, Brian Albert told ABC that his family feels let down by the legal system. 'The criminal justice system has let us down at every turn,' Albert said. 'And yesterday [Read's acquittal] was the final letdown. And that's why we're here, because there's nobody left to stand up for us.' Advertisement Jennifer McCabe also addressed her disputed Google search during the interview. She had testified at trial that she Googled on her phone how long it takes to die in the cold around 6:30 a.m. at Read's request, even though the search was timestamped at 2:27 a.m. on her device and later deleted. Forensic experts testified for the prosecution at trial that McCabe appeared to have made the search at the later time on an old tab and that the deletion appeared to have been done automatically. Read 'asked me to do it, at um, outside of Fairview at 6:20, whatever it was,' McCabe told ABC. 'Doesn't matter how much I say about it, people will not believe it.' Her sister, Nicole Albert, offered advice to people drawn into criminal investigations. 'Think real long and hard before you're a witness in a case,' Nicole Albert said. 'Because no one protects you. And it's very, very sad.' Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report. Travis Andersen can be reached at
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Family Reacts After Woman's Killing Streamed on Facebook Live
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