Latest news with #JohnOKeefe
The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
Now the murder trial of her boyfriend is over, Karen Read wants her car back
Karen Read, recently acquitted of killing her boyfriend John O'Keefe, is seeking the return of her Lexus SUV and cellphone from prosecutors. Both items were seized by investigators during the murder inquiry and were central to the prosecution's case against her. Prosecutors alleged Read struck O'Keefe with her Lexus, using forensic evidence from the vehicle and digital data to support their theory. Read was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter charges last month, though she was convicted of a lesser charge of operating under the influence. Her defence team claims they attempted to negotiate the return of the property after her acquittal but received no response, prompting the motion filed in court.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Karen Read was acquitted of murder charges in June. What she's asking the state to return
Following her acquittal on murder and other charges, Karen Read is asking a judge to force prosecutors to return her Lexus SUV and cellphone. Steven C. Boozang, an attorney for Read, filed the motion Monday in Norfolk Superior Court seeking return of the 2021 Lexus LX 570 and her personal cellphone. The Massachusetts State Police have possession of the property, Boozang said. Read, 45, on June 18, was acquitted by a jury of killing her boyfriend, Braintree native and Boston police officer John O'Keefe, by backing into him with her SUV outside a Canton home in January 2022 and leaving him to die in a snowstorm following a night of drinking. The jury found her guilty of operating under the influence. She was sentenced to a year of probation and a class. Read's defense team argued that the police and other parties colluded to frame Read for his murder. Boozang wrote in the filing that Read's lawyers 'attempted to negotiate the return of the listed property with ADA Adam Lally in late June" and they have not heard back from him. This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Karen Read is asking for the return of her Lexus SUV and cellphone
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Why Karen Read may not be off the hook for the death of her cop ex–boyfriend
Karen Read may have escaped murder charges over her boyfriend's highly publicized death, but her legal saga is far from over, as her legal team fights a civil suit filed by the family of the deceased. Read, 45, first stood trial last year for the death of her Boston cop boyfriend, John O'Keefe, but the trial ended in a hung jury. She was finally acquitted of second–degree murder on June 18, 2025, over three years after O'Keefe's death, in January 2022. However, Read still has a mountain of court dates ahead of her as she faces a civil suit from O'Keefe's family. In late August – after Read's first trial, the brother, parents and niece of O'Keefe filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit against her. Their suit mostly echoes the prosecution's case – that Read drunkenly hit O'Keefe with her car, leaving him to die in the snow outside the Canton home of his fellow Boston police officer Brian Albert. Prosecutors had argued Read was drinking with O'Keefe and a group of his friends when they were invited to an afterparty at Albert's home. Read had even admitted to having several alcoholic drinks beforehand, but said she decided to drop O'Keefe off at the afterparty before she returned to his house. According to Read's version of events, she woke up at 4am to find that O'Keefe never returned home, leading her to frantically drive out to try and find him. After finding O'Keefe's body outside the home – which party attendees claimed he never entered – first responders on the scene alleged that Read repeatedly told them she hit him while in a panicked state. The prosecutors then argued that Read was a scorned lover who chose to leave O'Keefe dying in the snow, after striking him with her SUV. O'Keefe's family – the plaintiffs – want at least $50,000 for what the lawsuit calls 'conscious pain and suffering, fear of impending death, wrongful death, lost value to next of kin, severe and profound emotional distress manifesting in bodily symptoms, and other compensable damages.' The O'Keefes also sued the two Canton bars – C.F. McCarthy's and the Waterfall Bar and Grill – that Read and O'Keefe visited before his death, accusing them of overserving Read. At Read's retrial, the jury convicted her of operating under the influence and she received a year of probation, but both bars have denied overserving her. Civil suits have a lower legal standard, because the party bringing the lawsuit only needs to show that it is more likely than not (at least 51 percent probable) that their claims are true. For this reason, the outcome of Read's criminal retrial isn't necessarily indicative of how the O'Keefe family's case will turn out. Read added three new lawyers to bolster her defense this month. The lawyers are Damon Seligson, Charles Waters and Aaron D. Rosenberg – who are all with the Boston–based law firm Sheehan Phinney. They join three other lawyers from the firm Melick & Porter, who were already representing Read in the case. Her civil attorneys then filed a motion to dismiss the wrongful death lawsuit. The notice of Read's dismissal motion was filed in Plymouth Superior Court on July 9, according to legal filings. The next hearing is scheduled for September. The O'Keefes also sued the two Canton bars – C.F. McCarthy's and the Waterfall Bar and Grill – that Read and O'Keefe visited before his death, accusing them of overserving Read (Pictured: Surveillance video from McCarthy's when Read arrived and is greeted by O'Keefe) At Read's retrial, the jury convicted her of operating under the influence and she received a year of probation, but both bars have denied overserving her Legal experts explained that, even though the O'Keefes only filed for 'at least $50,000' in damages, the family could be awarded a far higher sum. The question comes down to who can pay it for both the bars and Read. Although a jury can decide how much each defendant has to pay, if they don't have it, the family could be chasing it for years, especially with Read, who is a private citizen. Read isn't only the involved party facing the ongoing ramifications of O'Keefe's death. Michael Proctor – a former Massachusetts state trooper and lead investigator in O'Keefe's death who sent scandalous text messages about Read – was suspended a year ago and fired in March. Now, the former state trooper is trying to get his job back. He insists his investigation was unbiased, and recently appeared before a state commission that hears appeals from fired public employees. This appeal is set to continue in the coming weeks. Another ongoing case revolves around Aidan Kearney, a blogger who also goes by Turtleboy. Kearney began posting about the case in 2023, but he got too involved, according to prosecutors. In 2023, a grand jury indicted him for allegedly intimidating and harassing witnesses in the case, including Proctor. Even more counts followed. Another judge dismissed several of the counts, including the allegations related to Proctor, tut the rest of the case remains active. Kearney is set to appear in court next month. He has pleaded not guilty.
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Yahoo
Karen Read grand juror to plead guilty to leaking details about federal investigation
Karen Read grand juror to plead guilty to leaking details about federal investigation A Massachusetts woman who served as a grand juror in the federal investigation into the Karen Read murder case is expected to plead guilty to criminal contempt on Tuesday. Jessica Leslie, 34, of Dracut, admitted to leaking information presented to a federal grand jury to unauthorized individuals, including the names of various witnesses, when she was charged in federal court in Boston earlier this month. Federal prosecutors alleged that the leaks occurred between August 2022 and March 2024. Leslie's attorneys were able to reach a plea agreement with federal prosecutors that will result in two years of supervised release. Read, who was under investigation in connection with the murder of her Boston police officer boyfriend, faced no federal charges. Last month, a Norfolk Superior Court jury acquitted her of murder and manslaughter in the death of John O'Keefe. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Fox News
20-07-2025
- Fox News
Father of vindicated Karen Read warns concerned Americans 'the next Karen Read could be you' in new interview
Karen Read's father, Bill Read, opened up about his family's experience throughout her three-and-a-half-year legal saga in a candid new podcast interview. His 45-year-old daughter faced murder and other charges in the Jan. 29, 2022, death of her then-boyfriend, John O'Keefe, a Boston cop whom prosecutors alleged she mowed down with a Lexus SUV and left to die in a blizzard. The defense argued that she had never struck him, police had conducted a faulty investigation, and someone else had killed him. After a mistrial, jurors the second time around found her not guilty of all homicide-related charges and found her guilty of driving under the influence of liquor. Speaking with Billy Bush on his live show, "Hot Mics with Billy Bush," the elder Read said he believes his daughter had been the target of a corrupt investigation from the start and that she wouldn't have put up such a fight if she had had something to hide. "I can tell you, as a parent, no parent, no loved one, no significant other in this life should go through what my wife and I and our daughter have gone through these three and a half years, so I say to everyone out there, take back your government," Read said. "If you don't like what your leaders are doing in the criminal justice system, get them out. Take back your government, because the next Karen Read could be you." The younger Read and O'Keefe spent the night of Jan. 28, 2022, drinking in Canton, Massachusetts. They went to two bars before driving to an after party at the home of another Boston cop named Brian Albert. Prosecutors and the defense disagree about what had happened after they had gotten there just after midnight. At around 6 a.m., Read and two friends returned to the address to find O'Keefe dead on the front lawn under a dusting of snow. Police initially charged her with drunken driving manslaughter and fleeing the scene, but prosecutors later secured an indictment for the more serious charge of second-degree murder. Jurors ultimately cleared her of all of those allegations but agreed that she had drunk alcohol before getting behind the wheel. "We're very close. She is very candid. She's very truthful, and had she hurt John O'Keefe, she told me, she said, Dad, 'If I thought I hurt him, I'd own up to it. . . . But I did not strike him,'" the elder Read told Bush. "And I believed her." If you don't like what your leaders are doing in the criminal justice system, get them out. Take back your government, because the next Karen Read could be you. Plus, he said, the state's case was unconvincing and weak. "When you just look at the evidence, the wounds to the body, the lack of damage to the car, and then couple that with the physics, the science, the medical testimony..." he said. He took particular issue with the autopsy photos, and he said that's what had prompted her to reach out to attorney Alan Jackson, the Los Angeles lawyer who added a jolt to her legal team at trial. "Karen Read is the engine, the transmission in this bus. She's the fifth attorney," her father said. Imagine waking up every day in your 70s for 3 1/2 years knowing the people elected to serve you and assigned to protect you are trying to put your daughter in prison for life for something she did not do. That was Bill Read's reality. Read, who went up to every sidebar with her lawyers at trial, already had a prominent Boston-area attorney, David Yannetti, when she brought in Jackson and Elizabeth "Liza" Little. For her second trial, she also added New York's Robert Alessi. Bush also asked Read about his own relationship with O'Keefe. Could he have seen him as a son-in-law if things got that far? "I can't say that," he said, adding, "I liked the man." GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB They really bonded over sports, he said. "I saw John O'Keefe as really an athlete," he said. "You could see his style throwing the football with him. You could see he had it in his blood." He also said that his daughter can't have kids of her own but crafted a bond with O'Keefe's niece and nephew, whom he had adopted after their parents died. SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER "Karen was never going to be able to biologically have children, and I'm not sure that she would be necessarily one that would willingly embrace children. But those two children, she saw as an opportunity to provide a female presence in their life," he said. O'Keefe's niece testified against his daughter at trial and is a plaintiff in the family's wrongful death lawsuit against her. But jurors still found too many holes in the state's case. "Imagine waking up every day in your 70s for 3 ½ years knowing the people elected to serve you and assigned to protect you are trying to put your daughter in prison for life for something she did not do," Bush told Fox News Digital. "That was Bill Read's reality." Read received a year of probation for the drunken driving conviction. She is still facing a wrongful death lawsuit from O'Keefe's family, which her civil defense team asked the court to dismiss earlier this month. The case prompted the residents of Canton, Massachusetts, to demand an independent audit into their local police department, which found no evidence of a "conspiracy to frame" Read but faulted local police for a series of mistakes, including failure to photograph the victim's body before it was moved, failing to lock down the crime scene and conducting witness interviews outside of headquarters. State police also launched an internal probe into the lead homicide detective, Michael Proctor, who was fired for sharing confidential information with civilians outside of law enforcement and drinking on the job. He is appealing his dismissal. There was also a federal grand jury empaneled in the case, and one of the jurors pleaded guilty to leaking secret information earlier this week.
