Supporters react after Karen Read ‘not guilty’ verdict

DEDHAM, Mass. (WLNE) — It was a big win for Karen Read and her supporters after a not guilty verdict from the jury on murder and manslaughter charges.

She was accused of hitting her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe with her car and leaving him to die in the snow in 2022.

The defense arguing the police botched the case from the very start, and another jury deadlocked during Read’s first trial in 2024.

She was found not guilty of second degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of an accident with death resulting, which her supporters saw as a big victory.

Read was found guilty of a drunk driving charge.

She was sentenced to one-year probation, the standard sentence for a first-time offender on an operating under-the-influence charge, a much lighter sentence than the potential life-in-prison the murder charge carried.