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By Chloe Mayer
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The Massachusetts woman accused of killing her police officer boyfriend was due back in court on Monday as her trial continues.
Karen Read, who is in her mid-40s, is accused of leaving John O'Keefe for dead in a snowbank after allegedly mowing him down with her SUV following a night at a house party in Canton, near Boston, on January 29, 2022. The medical examiner ruled that the 46-year-old's cause of death was hypothermia, as well as blunt-force impact injuries to the head.
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Read, a financial analyst and college professor, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, and her legal team has argued that she is the victim of a police conspiracy to frame her. The case has divided Canton, with campaigns launched on both sides to either support or denigrate Read, and that split is echoed throughout the rest of the country as Americans follow the case.
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Here are some of the key moments that have emerged during the trial so far:
- Read's defense team alleges that she was framed and that O'Keefe was beaten inside the home and left outside the property by the true killer. They have also alleged that police failed to investigate fully because the homeowner, Brian Albert, was a retired police officer, making Read a "convenient outsider," allowing investigators to avoid considering other suspects.
- Brian Albert, who owned the home in front of which O'Keefe died, testified that he had disposed of his cellphone the day before a court order was issued demanding it be preserved. He said he needed to upgrade his phone and told the court: "That just happened to be the day that I got it." The Albert family allegedly had a strained relationship with O'Keefe, who lived in the same street, following various neighborly disputes.
- Partygoer Brian Higgins was a federal agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Read's defense team quizzed him about exchanging flirty texts with Read in the weeks in the run-up to O'Keefe's death. They also accused him of behaving suspiciously by throwing away his phone during the investigation. He claimed he had disposed of it because a suspect he was investigating for his job had managed to get hold of his number. "You knew when you were throwing that phone and the destroyed SIM card in the dumpster, that from that day forward, no one would ever be able to access the content of what you and Brian Albert had discussed by text messages on your old phone," attorney David Yannetti said. But Higgins insisted he had "every right" to get rid of his phone.
- Defense attorneys have been allowed to present what is termed "third-party culprit evidence." They have alleged that Higgins, Albert and Albert's nephew, Colin Albert, all had the motive, means and opportunity to kill O'Keefe that night. One, two or all three of the men could have been involved, the defense alleges. Prosecutors claimed the speculation was simply a "fanciful" story by the defense to deflect the blame from their client.
- O'Keefe had been raising his niece and nephew after their parents—his sister and brother-in-law—died. O'Keefe's teenage niece told the court she had heard Read saying that she feared she had hit her lover with her car. O'Keefe's nephew described the couple's relationship as stormy but said they were never physically violent with one another.
- Last Tuesday, jurors heard from Nicholas Roberts, who analyzed Read's blood test results the day O'Keefe was found dying in the snow. She was around the legal limit for alcohol when she was tested at 9 a.m., with readings of between .078% and .083% But her peak blood alcohol level would have been much higher hours earlier, between .135% and .292%, if she'd had her last drink at 12:45 a.m. as police claimed, he said.
The trial resumed on Monday and will continue on Wednesday along with a half-day on Thursday this week. There will be no testimony on Tuesday or Friday.
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