Protesters flock to support woman on trial over death of her police officer boyfriend

Sunday World

28-05-2025

'WE WANT JUSTICE' |
Karen Read is charged with second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter, and leaving the scene over the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe.
Karen Read's retrial for the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, has been ongoing since last month.
In the early morning hours of January 29, 2022, Boston Police Department Officer John O'Keefe was found dead outside the home of Boston Police Officer Brian Albert in Canton, Massachusetts.
His body was discovered by Read who had dropped O'Keefe off at the Albert residence the night before and had not heard from him since.
Read is charged with second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter, and leaving the scene. The prosecution argues Read intentionally struck O'Keefe with her SUV, while the defense contends he was killed in a separate incident and Read was framed.
The first trial ended in a mistrial last year due to a hung jury, and the second trial, overseen by Judge Beverly Cannone, has faced challenges including a potential conflict of interest for the judge and the testimony of a disgraced police investigator.
Karen Read. Photo: MediaNews Group via Getty Images
News in 90 Seconds - May 28th
As the trial could be entering the final days of its case, the remaining chaos unfolds in the courthouse, but outside, supporters of Karen are sitting in lawn chairs with their signs, dressed in pink, blowing bubbles, and ordering pizza while they listen to livestreams of the trial. They wave at people driving by and encouraging them to toot their horns. A group of people who were once strangers have been bonded for life after three years of supporting Karen Read.
Dina Warchao, who has been livestreaming what goes on outside the courthouse on YouTube, believes that the police are framing Karen for the murder of John O'Keefe.
'I'm here to support Karen because I feel she was framed for a murder that she did not commit, and it's against corruption, and as the trial goes on, it's for change,' she told Sunday World .
'Since the first trial, I was here every single day. I'm back working now, so I'm only here once a week on Tuesdays to livestream, and sometimes I come after work.
'It's not only important for Karen to get justice, it's also important to actually get the people that killed John O'Keefe, and it also ties into Sandra Birchmore as well as her unborn child. She was murdered by another police officer here, and the cases have connections.
Hundreds of Karen Read supporters. Photo: Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty
'The mistrial last year was heartbreaking; it was totally heartbreaking. Whether you believe Karen is innocent or guilty, I believe she's 100% innocent, but if you put that aside, everybody should be outraged at the way the investigation went.
'It's costing millions that us, the taxpayers here, are paying. It goes to show you what a cover-up it is; they're insistent on trying her and convicting her.
'Every single person down here wants justice for Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe. We want to see the people that killed him held responsible, and we want policy changes here in police procedures. It's wrong.'
For the retrial which began last month, a ban on protests within a 200-foot 'buffer zone' around the courthouse was put in place to separate protesters from the proceedings and to prevent disruptions to the trial, including the potential for jurors to be swayed by outside influences.
'We had less of a buffer zone last year, and it was more of a camaraderie; there were hundreds of people down here, all supporting Karen and seeking justice for John,' Dina added.
'It's a different kind of vibe where the judge stomped on our First Amendment rights and increased the buffer zone. Everybody down here is just trying to make change.'
Another supporter, Scott McGuinness, has had his 'boots on the ground' since 2023, prior to the recent buffer zone.
'If you truly believe the corruption here and the cover-up and the framing of Karen Read, the only way to get the word out to the public is to be here.
'DA Morrissey hates it; that's why they created the buffer zone. It's all about politics. They try to say it's to give Karen Read a fair trial, yeah, but we know that's a ruse.
'The only reason they don't want us in front of the courthouse is because it makes DA Morrissey look bad, Governor Maura Healey look bad, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell look bad. It's all a bad look for them because we don't believe our government, we don't believe in the State and in DA Morrissey prosecuting this case. Read more
'If Karen Read had dropped off John O'Keefe at a civilian's house party somewhere else in Canton, the true suspects would have been arrested within 24 hours. This was all a cover-up, favors given to Brian Albert, the connections he had to DA Morrissey's office and his State Police Detective Crew.
'If Karen Read dropped off John O'Keefe four doors down, there would have been a proper investigation, and the true suspects would have been arrested.'
Read has garnered support from the online community and various members of the public who have expressed their belief in her innocence. Every day they gather in pink as it's Karen's favorite colour to show support, and people from all around the globe have been tuning into the livestreams to get daily updates of the trial.
'Karen knows a lot of the regular supporters out here by name. She walked by me one day, and I said 'Hi, Karen,' she goes, 'Hi, Scott,' and I was like, how do you know my name? We began to realize that Karen Read watches a lot of the YouTube shows. She watched live coverage of us out here, so she got to know who all the Free Karen Read people were.
'It got to the point where Karen started inviting some of the boots on the ground into the trial. I got invited into the trial.
'A lot of the people right here that go into court with Karen, a lot of them originated as boots on the ground, so that's how much she recognizes, appreciates, and supports us.
'I've been coming here since before the beginning of the first trial. I first got involved in April 2023, heavily online, in Facebook groups. Aidan Kearney (Turtle Boy) broke the story in April 2023. My first boots on the ground demonstration was July 2023.
'Aidan's previously broke a lot of state police scandals. One of the reasons Aidan ended up being honeypot trapped and jailed was the state police and their corrupt powers in the state don't like Aidan's reporting at all.
'When Aidan broke the story about this, they went after him hard. Aidan, prior to this whole Karen Read thing, has reported a lot of corruption in the state, so the powers that be don't like Aidan at all.'