Karen Read’s 2nd Trial Ends With Not Guilty Verdict on Murder Charge

The verdict in the highly watched case was handed down almost a year after a mistrial.

Karen Read watches jurors enter the courtroom to resume deliberations during her trial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., on June 18, 2025. Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool

A Massachusetts jury on Wednesday found Karen Read not guilty in the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, almost a year after a closely watched trial ended in a mistrial.

Read had been accused of killing O‘Keefe, who died on Jan. 29, 2022. Prosecutors alleged that after a night of drinking, Read dropped O’Keefe off at a house party hosted by another Boston police officer, then struck him with her SUV as she drove away, leaving him in the snow where he later died.