Defense rests case in second trial of Karen Read for Boston police
officer boyfriend's death
[June 12, 2025]
By PATRICK WHITTLE
The defense in the second trial of Karen Read rested its case on
Wednesday and said Read was framed for the killing of her Boston police
officer boyfriend.
Read, 45, is accused of fatally striking O’Keefe with her SUV and
leaving him to die in the snow outside another officer’s home when she
dropped him off at a party in January 2022 after the two had been
drinking. She’s charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and
leaving the scene in Canton, outside Boston.
Prosecutors have said Read intentionally struck O’Keefe with her sport
utility vehicle and left him to die. Read’s defense has suggested she
was the victim of a wide-ranging conspiracy that included planting
evidence and using her as a convenient scapegoat for her boyfriend’s
death.
Defense attorneys in the case have accused the prosecution of twisting
Read’s words into a confession she never made. The state has pointed to
a television interview in which Read said, “I mean, I didn’t think I
‘hit him’ hit him, but I could I have clipped him?”
That’s not a confession but a person expressing genuine concern during a
desperate situation, defense attorney Alan Jackson has said.
“That’s a person trying to make sense of an unexplainable circumstance,
a natural concern of a bereaved significant other,” he said.
A crash expert who testified for the defense said, based on tests he
performed, the damage to Read’s taillight and O’Keefe’s clothing was
inconsistent with her SUV striking an arm or body at the speed described
by the prosecution.
Dr. Elizabeth Laposata, a former medical examiner called by the defense,
said O’Keefe’s injuries were indeed consistent with blunt force trauma
to the back of the head, but that his eye wounds were not consistent
with being hit by the rear of Read’s SUV. She also testified she did not
think O’Keefe was hit by the SUV at all.
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Karen Read talks with her defense team before the start of court and
the jury is seated during her retrial in Norfolk Superior Court,
Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot
Ledger via AP, Pool)
The defense also unsuccessfully sought a mistrial earlier in the
second trial. Read’s first trial ended in a mistrial due to a hung
jury. The attempt for a second mistrial hinged on a defense theory
that O’Keefe was beaten inside the home where the party took place,
and that he was bitten by a family dog and then left outside as part
of a conspiracy by the police that included planting evidence
against Read.
The defense team tried for a second mistrial after the prosecution
pointed out that no dog DNA was found on O’Keefe. The defense said
there had been no mention in the trial about DNA and the dog bite,
and argued that raising the subject while questioning Russell had
prejudiced the jury.
Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone said the trial could proceed.
The defense has also attempted to show that police were biased
against Read from the start and wanted to pin O’Keefe’s death on
her. Jonathan Diamandis, a friend of Michael Proctor, the lead
investigator of Read’s case, was asked by the defense team to read
text messages that Proctor sent to friends about the investigation.
Proctor was fired in March after a disciplinary board found he sent
sexist and crude text messages about Read to his family and
colleagues. His testimony played a key role in the first trial.
Defense attorneys used his text messages to attempt to show that
Proctor was biased and ignored the possibility of other suspects.
The next big step in the case is closing statements from both sides.
The case will then go to the jury.
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