Special prosecutor warns Karen Read supporters' behavior is 'antithesis of justice'

Fox News

4 hours ago

Special prosecutor Hank Brennan broke his silence on the Karen Read case Monday, warning that the behavior of her most vocal supporters threatens the American legal system as it is known.
"The campaign of intimidation and abuse that has been waged, funded, and promoted in public and on social media is the antithesis of justice. If this type of conduct becomes commonplace, it will threaten the integrity of our judicial system, affecting both victims and criminally accused," he said in a statement.
"We cannot condone witness abuse causing participants to worry for their own safety or that of their families."
One of Read's chief cheerleaders, Aidan Kearney, a Canton blogger known as Turtleboy, is facing charges of witness intimidation in connection with the case.
"It is my hope that with the verdict, the witnesses and their families will be left alone," Brennan said. "The harassment of these innocent victims and family members is deplorable and should never happen again in a case in this commonwealth."
Jurors found Read not guilty of all homicide-related charges last week in her second trial over the death of John O'Keefe, a Boston police officer and her former boyfriend whom prosecutors alleged she fatally struck with her 2021 Lexus LX 570 SUV before fleeing the scene.
Despite the outcome, there are signs that her supporters still have their focus on witnesses in the case – one of whom is slated to get married over the weekend.
After a "Free Karen Read" X account posted information about the wedding, her registry site went offline.
Prosecutors had accused Read of backing into O'Keefe with her Lexus SUV and leaving him to die with a fractured skull during a blizzard on Jan. 29, 2022. Her defense denied a collision ever happened. Jurors agreed and found her guilty only of drunken driving.
"I am disappointed in the verdict and the fact that we could not achieve justice for John O'Keefe and his family," Brennan said.
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He joined the case last year to assist the Norfolk District Attorney's Office after Read's first trial ended with a deadlocked jury. He said District Attorney Michael Morrissey gave him full discretion to reinterpret the evidence, and Brennan sought the same charges, including second-degree murder.
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"After an independent and thorough review of all the evidence, I concluded that the evidence led to one person, and only one person," Brennan said. "Neither the closed federal investigation nor my independent review led me to identify any other possible suspect or person responsible for the death of John O'Keefe."
Morrissey's office has not responded to a request for comment from Fox News Digital regarding the trial's outcome.
Read's parents, however, have maintained her innocence throughout more than three years of her legal ordeal.
Her father, William Read, an outspoken voice on the courthouse steps during and after her second trial, has thanked supporters who lined the streets outside her trial as well as internet "content providers" who took her side online.
"I want to acknowledge the greatest team of attorneys," he told a crowd after her acquittal on the most serious charges. "Our first one that we found was David Yannetti. We added Alan Jackson and Liza Little. Bob Alessi you know about, all right. It was a fantastic team, but we needed them all to defeat this."
In a new interview with NBC's Boston affiliate, he put on a Lexus golf shirt and said his daughter would have told him if she had killed O'Keefe.
"We know Karen as our daughter. Had she done something and struck John O'Keefe, we would have been the first to be notified," he told the station. "She would have said, 'Mom and dad, I will take my medicine,' and it was quite the opposite."
As for her mother, Janet Read, she thanked her daughter's supporters and said she intended to pay it forward.
William Read, like his daughter's defense attorneys, is urging her supporters to go out and vote.
O'Keefe's family has not responded to requests for comment.