Opening statements in the second trial of Karen Read — a Massachusetts woman accused of killing her police officer boyfriend with her SUV — just concluded.
The 45-year-old is charged with second-degree murder, motor vehicular manslaughter, and leaving the scene of a collision causing death. She has pleaded not guilty.
John O’Keefe, a veteran of the Boston Police Department, was found dead in late January 2022; a medical examiner determined he died of hypothermia and blunt-force head trauma.
The prosecution argued that Read struck O’Keefe after a night of drinking. They focused on her Lexus SUV’s broken taillight and claimed his DNA was found on the back of her car. The case’s “facts, science and data” will drive the case, Hank Brennan, special prosecutor, told the jury.
Her defense team, meanwhile, claimed that there was no evidence to support a collision. O’Keefe’s injuries were not consistent with a car accident and there is a video capturing how Read’s taillight broke — and it had nothing to do with O’Keefe, defense attorney Alan Jackson said.
Jackson blamed fellow officers, arguing the investigation was “riddled with errors from the beginning” and was a "deliberate effort to avoid and cover up” the truth, he said.
Read’s first murder trial ended in a mistrial after jurors reached an impasse. Since then, Read asked the state’s highest court to drop two charges because several jurors post-trial expressed they would have voted to acquit her on those counts. The court rejected her request.
Earlier this month, Read appealed her case to the Supreme Court over double jeopardy concerns. The court said it would review whether to take the case on April 25, but rejected her request to delay the retrial.
Key Points
- Opening statements are underway
- Read's retrial comes one year after the first jury reached an impasse
- Read's supporters line up outside of Norfolk Superior Court
- O'Keefe's injuries are not consistent with a car accident, defense claims
Karen Read appears in court as opening statements are set to begin
14:23 , Kelly RissmanWelcome to The Independent’s live coverage of Karen Read’s retrial.
Opening statements in Read’s second trial are set to begin momentarily.
She’s accused of second-degree murder, motor vehicular manslaughter, and leaving the scene of a collision causing death.
Her second trial, nearly one year after her first case ended in a mistrial, is expected to last six to eight weeks, the judge has said.
Jury selection ended last week; nine men and nine women will be on the panel.
Read, her lawyers, and her supporters arrive at the courthouse
14:35 , Kelly Rissman
Court is now in session
14:54 , Kelly RissmanThe jurors have been sworn in.
Judge Beverly Cannone is walking through the charges and the burdens of proof for each count.
Hank Brennan is delivering an opening statement for the prosecution
15:58 , Kelly Rissman“I hit him. I hit him. I hit him,” Read told the firefighter after he asked what had happened, Brennan said.
She was asked to provide background info about John O’Keefe. She told three first responders that she hit O’Keefe, Brennan argued.
“We are here today because John O’Keefe was killed by the actions and crime of Karen Read,” he said. “O’Keefe got out of the car, he stood by the side of the road after an argument with the defendant…an argument fueled by heavy intoxication…the defendant and her SUV drove away.”
“She was angry and arguing with John O’Keefe” before they left for the bar but “she brought the fight back in the form of her SUV,” he said.
Alan Jackson delivers an opening statement for Reed's defense
16:01 , Kelly Rissman“There was no collision with John O’Keefe,” he told the jury.
Jackson argued that fellow cops corrupted the investigation. He mostly placed blame on Michael Proctor, the lead investigator on the case.
The investigation was “riddled with errors from the beginning.” It was corrupted by “bias, incompetence, and deceit,” and a "deliberate effort to avoid and cover up the very truth that you are seeking,” he said.
Read found O’Keefe dead on Brian Albert’s lawn at 6 a.m. that day. Despite the sirens and chaos occurring feet from his home, “Brian Albert, a sworn peace officer and first responder, himself never came outside.”
Proctor never conducted an investigation in the house that day, never properly canvassed the neighborhood or secured the crime scene, Jackson said.
Michael Proctor wasn’t named by the prosecution in their opening statements. “I suspect that was by design,” Jackson said. He’s an architect of the prosecution “but he’s also their Achilles heel.”
O'Keefe's injuries are not consistent with a car accident: defense
16:10 , Kelly RissmanNot long after Brennan described Read leaving O’Keefe rage-filled voicemails as he was left lying on the cold ground, Jackson provided a different explanation: O’Keefe went inside the house and Read remained in the car, growing frustrated.
That’s when she left him angry voicemails because she thought he was only going to be inside for a few minutes.
O’Keefe couldn’t walk, talk, grab his phone after the first blow to his head that knocked him unconscious, Jackson said. He didn’t suffer from hypothermia — his body showed no signs of frostbite or cold-induced injuries to his organs, he continued.
The medical evidence will establish that he was killed somewhere else — "somewhere warmer” — and that his body had to be moved out in the cold, Jackson said. He didn’t suffer a “single injury on his body consistent with having been hit by a car.”
The injuries on his body aren’t consistent with a car accident, but more consistent with scrapes from a large dog, Jackson argued. Shortly after this incident, Albert’s dog was re-homed, he said.
Defense pokes holes in taillight theory
16:28 , Kelly RissmanThe prosecution kept pointing to Read’s car’s broken taillight throughout their opening statement.
Now, the defense is saying that her taillight broke hours after she dropped off her boyfriend at a party at Albert’s home.
Read struck another car with the taillight that night, Jackson said. The defense will show a video — five hours after she dropped off O’Keefe — capturing the moment her taillight was damaged. The incident reportedly occurred in O’Keefe’s driveway.
In another direct contradiction to what Brennan told jurors earlier this morning, “She never says ‘I hit him,’” Jackson said. “Not one first responder” or civilian reported her saying those words, he said.
In photos: Read's retrial is underway as the jury hears opening statements
16:31 , Kelly Rissman
Prosecution argued launched a 'campaign of false statements'
16:35 , Kelly RissmanRead launched a ‘campaign of false statements’ through news interviews and a documentary, special prosecutor Brennan continued. “You will hear in her own lips…her own admissions,” he said.
The prosecution then played a clip of Read speaking on Dateline.
“I didn’t think I hit him, hit him, but could I have clipped him, could I have tagged him in the knee and incapacitated him,” Read said in the clip from the October 2024 interview. “He didn’t look mortally wounded, as far as I could see — but could I have done something that knocked him out and in drunkenness and in the cold, he didn’t come to again.”
“She was angry and arguing with John O’Keefe” before they left for the bar but “she brought the fight back in the form of her SUV,” he said.
The defense argued the clip was taken out of context. In that clip, Read was talking about when she found him at 6 a.m., not hours earlier when the prosecution claims she hit him.
Opening statements have concluded
16:47 , Kelly RissmanThe court is taking a morning recess after both sides delivered their opening statements to the jury.
First witness takes the stand
17:04 , Kelly RissmanTimothy Nuttall, a 20-year-old Canton firefighter and paramedic, takes the stand
Paramedic says O'Keefe was 'cold to the touch'
17:23 , Kelly RissmanThe emergency alert tones went off when he entered the building on the morning of January 29, 2022. He and his team was dispatched to an unresponsive male in a snow bank.
When he arrived, he found he was not breathing, had no pulse and was “very cold to the touch.”
A paramedic at the scene determined it he had gone into a “hypothermic cardiac arrest.” He added that he didn’t know how long O’Keefe had been outside for.
His fingers were “quite cold” and didn’t appear to have any blood flow.
'I hit him. I hit him. I hit him': Witness recalls Read saying
17:27 , Kelly RissmanWhen he was in the process of trying to help O’Keefe, Nuttall said he saw a middle-aged female with blood on her face.
She said he knew him and when Nuttall asked for background information about O’Keefe, he recalled her saying: “I hit him. I hit him. I hit him.”
He said he didn’t get a chance to ask any follow-up questions. She then went in a different direction.
Paramedic describes scene
17:42 , Kelly RissmanHis abrasions “were not bleeding but notably deep.” Nuttall said he didn’t know how the injuries were caused.
The paramedics also sucked some blood out of the back of his airway. There also appeared to be some matted blood at the back of his hair.
There was screaming, wind was whipping and “it was chaotic” at the scene, Nuttall said. The prosecution played a clip of Read approaching the paramedics. The sky is dark but the red and blue emergency vehicle’s lights reflect off the white snow.
Nuttall under cross-examination
17:50 , Kelly RissmanAlan Jackson, Read’s defense attorney, is pressing the witness about his recent conversation with prosecutors.
Nuttall says he met with the prosecution once three weeks ago, once two weeks ago, and once last night.
They discussed his prior testimony from last year’s trial. In one of these conversations, there were questions over how many times Read said, “I hit him.” He apparently recalled her saying it twice in the trial last year.
“Does your memory get better with time?” Jackson asked, who is trying to point out that today’s testimony was “inconsistent” with how he testified a year ago.
Nuttall said she repeated the phrase after he asked Read if she knew him.
Defense attorney tries to cast doubt on witness' memory
18:00 , Kelly RissmanO’Keefe had a “puffy” winter coat on, Nuttall previously said. But as it turns out, he wasn’t wearing a coat at all, Jackson said. O’Keefe wasn’t wearing a shoe, the attorney added.
Weeks ago, the witness and prosecutors also discussed this discrepancy, Nuttall said.
Asked why he didn’t bring that up when previously asked what he and prosecutors discussed, the witness said he didn’t remember until now.
“So your memory has faded from just three weeks ago?” Jackson asked.
Nuttall walks through O'Keefe's injuries
18:07 , Kelly RissmanO’Keefe’s right eye was blackened, he had a bump over his eye, and scratches on his arm, Nuttall testified.
The scratches on his arm were parallel, he said.
When asked whether he could determine whether O’Keefe’s scratches were consistent with an altercation, the prosecution objected. The judge then asked Nuttall if he could answer; he said he could not.
The judge then asked both attorneys for a sidebar.
Lunch recess
18:12 , Kelly RissmanThe court is taking a lunch break. Nutall will return to the stand when it returns.
Court resumes
19:17 , Kelly RissmanNuttall is back on the stand for more cross-examination.
He was kneeling over O’Keefe when he asked Read whether she knew O’Keefe, to which she replied: “I hit him. I hit him. I hit him,” Nuttall testified.
Ten days later, he told Proctor something different, Jackson said.
Nuttall told Proctor that he overheard Read telling another woman that she hit him — and she said “I hit him” once, Jackson said.
Cross-examination of Nuttall ends
19:33 , Kelly RissmanBrennan is now returning to recross-examination.
The special prosecutor asked whether Jackson showed the jury the clip of when Read allegedly said “I hit him.” The witness said that moment had not yet been shown.
Nuttall's testimony continues
19:43 , Kelly RissmanAll of his injuries were on his right side, Nuttall said.
Earlier when Nuttall was asked about whether he could have sustained those injuries from been punched, the witness said it was possible. He added that the wounds could have arisen from things as well.
Brennan asked whether Nuttall recalled Read admitting that she “hit” him on other occasions; “I do not,” the witness replied.
“I believe she said it several times” off in the background, Nuttall said, noting that he was focused on the patient at the time and trying to provide care.
Dispute over the injuries
19:56 , Kelly RissmanNutall said he didn’t have an injury on the left side of his face, before saying that he had a black eye on the left side of his face.
The witness said eye injuries can migrate to both sides of the face over time.
Earlier, Nutall testified to the prosecution that he only witnessed injuries to O’Keefe’s right side.
Next witness is called to the stand: Kerry Roberts
20:03 , Kelly RissmanKerry Roberts, an executive assistant with two children, takes the stand.
She and O’Keefe went to high school together.
O'Keefe's friend testifies
20:09 , Kelly RissmanShe became close friends with him when O’Keefe started taking care of his sister’s children.
“He was on our emergency contact list,” she said. They picked up and dropped off their children at school and went to the kids’ sports games together.
She and her husband lived up the street from O’Keefe.
They had a “very close friendship,” Roberts testified. She also became closer with his parents, who also helped raise his children.
“The community all came together to help him” when he lost his sister and stepped in to take care of her kids,” she said of O’Keefe.
Roberts and Read were 'friendly' — but not 'friends'
20:14 , Kelly RissmanJen McCabe helped take care of O’Keefe’s niece. Roberts and McCabe didn’t cross paths outside of one occurrence at a shoe store.
Roberts first met Read in the summer of 2020, she testified.
Read came to baseball tournaments with O’Keefe, his nephew, and Roberts’ son.
When asked if she and Read were friends, she said: “We were friendly.” They mostly knew one another through coordinating picking up and dropping off the kids; they never spent a holiday together.
Read was 'frantic' when O'Keefe didn't come home that night, Roberts testifies
20:26 , Kelly RissmanThe jury was shown a photo of O’Keefe’s house and driveway. He had a Ring camera, she said.
Roberts’ husband went to the bar with O’Keefe on the evening of January 28, 2022. He returned around 10 p.m. or 10.30 p.m. A blizzard was expected, she said.
She was woken up at 5 a.m. from Karen Read.
“Kerry, Kerry, Kerry. John’s dead,” Read said on the phone before hanging up. “She was yelling loud enough that she woke my husband” sleeping next to her, Roberts said.
In another call with Read, she said she believed he had been hit by a plow. They drank so much last night that she didn’t remember what happened, Roberts recalled Read telling her.
Read said O’Keefe didn’t come home that night. Roberts’ husband suggested that since the pair had been out drinking, he was probably crashed at someone else’s house.
Read was “frantic,” Roberts recalled. “She couldn’t find John so she was very worried,” she added.
Roberts then called the non-emergency police line. The jury listened to that call.
The women drove to O'Keefe's home to look for him
20:45 , Kelly RissmanRoberts waited in her car for Read to get to her house.
It was a blizzard outside. The visibility was “not great” and the snow had accumulated “enough that the plows were out,” Roberts said.
Read and Roberts spoke on the phone again. Read was at Jen McCabe’s house, where Roberts then drove to.
Read then said that she hadn’t checked O’Keefe’s house to see if he was lying around somewhere there.
There was a “piece missing” from Read’s taillight, Roberts testified.
Roberts then followed McCabe to O’Keefe’s home. They then started looking for him in the house.
In a photo shown to the jury, O’Keefe’s car was in the driveway next to Read’s car; the taillight was broken in the photo, Roberts said.
'There he is!' Read allegedly said as she ran toward a mound of snow to find O'Keefe's body
20:54 , Kelly RissmanAs Roberts drove, McCabe looked out the passenger seat window and Read was in the back seat and then “in between Jen and I,” she said.
The visibility was poor, “I was white-knuckling it,” she said.
They then planned to drive to Fairview Road.
“There he is!” Read said from the car before she started running toward a mound of snow, Roberts testified.
Kerry Roberts direct examination continues tomorrow
21:03 , Kelly RissmanThat’s all for testimony today. The prosecution will continue to question Roberts tomorrow.
