Latest news with #KarenRead
Fox News
4 days ago
- Fox News
Karen Read lands lucrative book deal while witnesses face continued harassment after acquittal
EXCLUSIVE IMAGES: Life is moving on for all the key players except John O'Keefe's family after a Massachusetts jury found his former girlfriend Karen Read not guilty of all homicide-related charges in his death outside a midnight house party during a blizzard on Jan. 29, 2022. O'Keefe's niece and nephew, who he took in after their parents died, are orphaned for a second time. Read has a book deal – and a TV series about her saga in the works. But she's also facing a wrongful death lawsuit, which requires a lesser standard of guilt to hold her liable. Her civil team filed a motion to dismiss earlier this week. An outside investigation by the FBI found no alternate suspects and dispelled allegations of corruption leveled at local and state police. But prosecutors and investigators who led the case are facing a reckoning. The Albert family, former owners of the property where Read and two other women found O'Keefe dead under a sheet of snow, just celebrated a wedding. Jennifer McCabe, a key witness in both of Read's trials and one of the women with Read that morning, is the new bride's aunt. At the wedding, attendees pitched in to hire private security after Read's supporters allegedly circulated the venue online. Local police made their presence known, too. A marked SUV was parked at the foot of the church steps. Kerry Roberts, a friend of O'Keefe's who was also present with McCabe and Read when they found his body, told Fox News Digital she is among the witnesses facing an ongoing harassment campaign, along with the Alberts, the McCabes and O'Keefe's immediate family. "I don't know why they're making Jen McCabe a villain," she said in a phone interview. "All she did was answer the same phone call I did. Karen called her. She didn't call Karen. It's so stupid and bizarre." The victim's mother, Peggy O'Keefe, is dealing with harassment of her own, including a woman seen dancing on video at the foot of her driveway after Read's acquittal. Roberts said the Norfolk District Attorney's Office told her to stop contacting their witness advocate after the trial, even as strangers continue to throw things at her house, call her family "murderers" in the supermarket and mock her children. "We put our a--es on the line for three and a half years, two trials, to help the state of Massachusetts, and you're not going to help us when we're being harassed?" she said. "It's not worth it to put my family through ever again, and not be protected at all. It's sick. It's absolutely sick." There's an ongoing witness intimidation case against Aidan Kearney, a Canton blogger who goes by the name Turtleboy, but while Roberts is not one of his alleged victims, she says she faces rude comments and other harassment from random members of the community. After baseball games, kids on the team opposing her son might tell him "Free Karen Read" while lining up to shake hands, she said. She filed a complaint against her mailman, who allegedly muttered a vulgarity into her doorbell camera when he saw a "Justice for John O'Keefe" sign at her house. Now someone else delivers her letters. "My message to people is don't ever be a witness," she said. "If this happens to you, you're not gonna be protected at all." Read's lead defense lawyer Alan Jackson returned to Los Angeles in time for the Fourth of July holiday, where he was seen cruising in a Shelby Cobra replica – powered by a 351 Stroker he described as "a fire-breathing dragon." "[It's] taking a while to come down," he told Fox News Digital. "But I'm slowly getting back into my rhythm." He already has another deadly crash case lined up – the defense of Fraser Bohm, a 22-year-old from Malibu facing four counts of murder in a high-speed wreck that killed four sorority girls from Pepperdine University in October 2023. SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER Bohm is due back in court next month after Jackson asked for more time to prep a defense for his new client. Michael Proctor, a former homicide detective with the Massachusetts State Police, lost his job but may still resurface in the upcoming murder trial of Brian Walshe – who is accused of killing his wife Ana outside Boston. Her remains have not been found. Proctor worked that case, too, and Walshe's lawyers have argued his presence tainted the investigation. That trial is scheduled to kick off in October. State police fired Proctor after he sent lewd texts about Read to his friends – officially faulting him for sharing law enforcement sensitive information with civilians – and for drinking on the job. His former supervisor, Yuri Bukhenik, was also reassigned in the wake of Read's second trial out of the homicide unit in Norfolk County and to an administrative post in Boston, according to Boston 25. Read's defense alleged a cover-up by state and local police, alternately insinuating they got lazy in the investigation and failed to do a thorough job or outright framed her. Hank Brennan, the high-powered defense attorney hired as a special prosecutor to lead Read's second trial, reportedly raked in more than $550,000 for his work, according to the Boston Herald. That's a reasonable sum for a private lawyer, said retired Massachusetts judge and Boston College law professor Jack Lu, but also much more than a deputy district attorney on the state payroll would have made: "Probably $130,000 annually." Brennan put in long days and likely worked through weekends, while keeping his private practice open at the same time, he added. And while in a rare public statement he slammed the prevalence of witness intimidation and apologized for not securing a conviction, O'Keefe's supporters indicated they appreciate his work on the case. "The jury pool was completely tainted is all I can say," Roberts told Fox News Digital. "Hank did so much work. He was a genius. He really was. Nobody could've gotten it done. Which is wicked sad."
Fox News
6 days ago
- Fox News
Karen Read asks Massachusetts court to throw out wrongful death lawsuit after murder acquittal
Karen Read, cleared last month of murder charges in the death of her former boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, is asking a Massachusetts court to throw out the wrongful death lawsuit his family filed against her, according to a new court filing. The O'Keefes named Read and two bars the couple visited in the hours before his death in a lawsuit seeking an unspecified sum of more than $50,000. She has a different legal team in the civil case than the high-profile criminal defense team that helped win her freedom. Read's civil lawyers notified the court Wednesday they had served a motion to dismiss to all parties. "It's basically notice that there is an out-of-court procedure going on," said Jack Lu, a retired Massachusetts judge and Boston College law professor. "Moving party files a (Rule) 9A package with the other sides. The other sides send their opposition packages to the moving party. They agree on anything they can, and the whole big package is forwarded to the court, which schedules a hearing or rules without a hearing." It doesn't mean the sides are getting any closer to a settlement, however, he said. The O'Keefes filed the lawsuit in August 2024, after Read's first trial ended with a deadlocked jury. The court put it on hold until her second trial ended. She was acquitted of all homicide-related charges but convicted of a drunken driving offense for which she received probation. Read was accused of hitting her boyfriend with a Lexus SUV and leaving him to die in the snow, but prosecutors failed to convince the jury despite finding shattered taillight fragments in the victim's clothes. In her first trial, Read's defense said she had been framed. In the second, she denied a collision ever happened, and her lawyers pointed to glaring holes in the investigation. According to the lawsuit, in the days before O'Keefe's death, "Read picked fights, experienced jealousy and had delusions of unfaithfulness." They went out drinking Jan. 28, 2022, stopping at C.F. McCarthy's and then the Waterfall Bar and Grille, both in Canton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. The lawsuit accuses staff at McCarthy's of letting Read leave with a drink in her hand and the Waterfall of serving her when she was visibly intoxicated. Like state prosecutors, it also accuses Read of knocking O'Keefe to the ground with her car and leaving him to die in the snow with a head injury during a blizzard. The burden of proof is held to a lower standard in lawsuits. In the 1990s, former NFL star O.J. Simpson was acquitted of the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman but found civilly liable for their deaths. Read is accused of "knowingly and deliberately" changing her story, concocting "a conspiracy" and publicizing a "false narrative, thereby frustrating Justice for JJ." JJ was O'Keefe's nickname, and the family alleges Read's narrative caused them "aggravated emotional distress."
Forbes
09-07-2025
- Forbes
Karen Read: Expert From Trial Explains'Hos Long To Die In Cold' And Deleted Calls
Karen Read chats with her defense team. The Karen Read trial, with its swirling allegations of murder, conspiracy and law enforcement cover-up became a national spectacle not just for its courtroom drama, but for the pivotal role that digital evidence played in shaping the narrative. As a digital forensics expert myself, I found the case to be a textbook example of both the power and the pitfalls of technical evidence in the justice system. My recent conversation with Jessica Hyde, who testified as a digital forensics expert in the trial for the prosecution, underscored how critical our discipline has become; and how easily it can be misunderstood. The Search: 'Hos Long To Die In Cold' The trial's most debated digital artifact was a Google search from Jen McCabe's iPhone: 'hos long to die in cold.' The defense's expert in the first trial claimed this search occurred at 2:47 a.m., before the victim was found, implying prior knowledge. Hyde's testimony clarified that the timestamp reflected when the browser tab was opened, not when the search was performed. This misinterpretation arose from an over-reliance on automated forensic tools. "If the tools themselves did the job for us, we wouldn't need us as experts. We have to provide that nuanced meaning, because it is such technical work. You just can't rely on the results of the forensics tools,' Hyde said, echoing a principle I stress in the Continuing Legal Education classes I teach to attorneys. Call Logs: User Deleted or Automated? Another flashpoint was the accusation that McCabe deleted call logs to cover her tracks. Hyde's examination and testing revealed that the model and iOS version of McCabe's iPhone retained a maximum of 200 calls per type, automatically overwriting the oldest entries as new ones come in. This is standard device behavior, not evidence of user deletion. I have encountered this exact misconceptions in my own work, and particularly in commercial vehicle and trucking accident cases. As Hyde expressed in our interview, it is essential to test and validate before drawing conclusions. Neutrality Above All: The True Role of the Expert Hyde emphasized a point I adamantly agree with: digital forensic experts are not advocates for either side. Our mandate is to remain independent, to interpret data impartially, and to present findings—exculpatory or inculpatory—based solely on the evidence. 'Our entire job is to be neutral,' she explains. 'When we're hired, we're hired as an independent expert. They don't tell me what to find. They tell me my scope, and then I tell them my findings.' This independence is non-negotiable, and as I know from my own casework, it's often misunderstood by the public and even by some legal professionals. Digital Forensics: Lessons For The Legal System The Karen Read trial exposed the stakes of digital forensics in modern litigation. Hyde's experience mirrors my own, and highlights the urgent need for more education. Both for legal professionals and for experts themselves. As Hyde noted, 'the field is only getting more complex, with new data sources and evolving technology raising the bar for both technical skill and clear communication.' If an expert cannot explain technical findings in plain language to judges and juries, they can become a liability rather than an asset, independent of their findings. Ultimately, the Read case is a cautionary tale: digital evidence is only as reliable as the expertise behind its interpretation. In a world where digital footprints are central to so many investigations, the integrity and clarity of our work as digital forensics experts has never mattered more.
CBS News
07-07-2025
- CBS News
Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik, key investigator in Karen Read case, transferred by Massachusetts State Police
Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik, a key investigator in the Karen Read case, has been transferred to another Massachusetts State Police division just weeks after the high-profile trial ended. Bukhenik, who previously worked with Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey's office, has been reassigned to an administrative role for the Division of Field Services in the South Boston barracks, State Police spokesperson Tim McGuirk said. "As a Sergeant assigned to the DST Commander's Office, Sergeant Bukhenik will perform a variety of administrative functions in support of the Division's daily operations," McGuirk said in a statement. Read was acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges on June 18. Bukhenik testified in both Read's first and second trials. After the first trial, Bukhenik forfeited five vacation days following an internal affairs investigation. The investigation found that Bukhenik should have reprimanded and reported former State Police Trooper Michael Proctor for sending inappropriate text messages about Read to a group chat that included Bukhenik. Bukhenik read Proctor's text messages aloud in court during the second trial. In the texts, Proctor referred to Read as a "whackjob [expletive]" and said in one message that "hopefully she kills herself." Bukhenik testified that he did not respond with words to Proctor's messages, but acknowledged one with a "thumbs up" emoji. State police are currently accepting applications for Bukhenik's former position with Norfolk County. "As the Colonel said following the conclusion of the second trial, the events of the last three years have challenged our Department to thoroughly review our actions and take concrete steps to deliver advanced investigative training, ensure appropriate oversight, and enhance accountability," McGuirk said in the statement. "Our focus remains on delivering excellent police services that reflect the value of professionalism and maintaining public trust."
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Yahoo
Karen Read juror leaned guilty through trial. Here's what changed her mind
Going into jury deliberations for Karen Read's second murder trial, the outcome of acquittal was anything but certain. At least one juror told interviewers afterwards that she was leaning toward guilty as she met with her fellow jurors to deliberate. Janet Jimenez, in an interview with WCVB, told the news outlet that she had filled up a notebook and a half with notes on evidence and witness testimony. 'I was hoping that my fellow jurors could help me to go through all of this,' Jimenez said during the interview. 'So I went in with a very open mind but definitely leaning toward that she was guilty.' Read, 45, was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident causing injury or death in the 2022 death of her police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe, who was found in the snow outside the Canton home of a fellow Boston police officer. The jury acquitted Read of the three most serious charges — second-degree murder, manslaughter, and leaving the scene of an accident — but was convicted of operating under the influence. That verdict ended a near three-year saga as well as two trials, the first ending in a mistrial. Jimenez, who WCVB identified as a personal trainer, said she felt it was highly likely she would be selected to be a juror because she knew almost nothing about the case — unlike many who had followed along with the first trial. Jimenez told WCVB that she found the defense's argument about a Google search for 'hos long to die in cold' hours before O'Keefe's body was found unconvincing, and that she found lead investigator Michael Proctor's text messages about Read 'crude' but not proof of a coverup. What eventually swayed Jimenez was when she went looking for something among the 200 pieces of evidence, but didn't find it. Jimenez wouldn't tell WCVB what it was she was looking for, but when it didn't turn up, that was meaningful to her. 'It was one big part that led me closer to 'there's a lot of doubt,'' she said. Jimenez and the other jurors had a long period of deliberations. Overall it took about 22 hours for the seven women and five men to come to their decision. The jurors sent four notes to presiding judge Beverly Cannone and had a false start on Wednesday before delivering their verdict. Jimenez said she stands by her decision. 'I'm very comfortable with how I came to the decision,' she said. 'So I guess it will be part of my story.' That echoes another juror who has come forward, Paula Prado, who told the Today show she was convinced Read was not guilty and that 'We did the right thing.' MassLive reporter Charlie McKenna contributed to this article. Poll finds widespread support for Karen Read among eligible jurors Albert, McCabe families address Karen Read trial verdict in TV interview 'We did the right thing': Juror in Karen Read retrial confident in acquittal Karen Read's defense changed its strategy for retrial — and won Michael Proctor to speak in 2-hour Dateline special following Karen Read trial Read the original article on MassLive.
