If the Nicolae Miu Wisconsin case was controversial, Karen Read’s Massachusetts trial takes it up a notch. This gripping case has the inner workings of a historical trial that will be firmly lodged in the collective memory of true crime fans.
Rarely do we see the prosecution and defense with such stark versions of what happened on Jan. 28, 2022, the night Boston police officer John O’Keefe died. Indeed, the defense’s strategy alleges that not only did Read not do it, but she was framed by the real murderers, some of whom are fellow police officers, and thus, in the best hypothetical position to throw Karen under the bus. She was initially charged with manslaughter, but those charges were later upgraded to second-degree murder.
It could be said that both sides face an uphill battle to make their case. However, it is the prosecution’s burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Read was the one who caused O’Keefe’s death that fateful night.
The prosecution
Canton law enforcement and the Commonwealth have argued that, after dropping him at a house party, wherein fellow Boston police officer Brian Albert (the owner of the house), and his sister-in-law, Jennifer McCabe, were also attending, Karen Read killed her boyfriend when she hit him with her black Lexus SUV as she did a three-point turn.
Before dropping John O’Keefe off, the couple had been to some bars, and the prosecution argues Karen drank more than she says she did and that her blood alcohol level was well above the legal limit. It is also said that O’Keefe and Read had been having ugly arguments, some regarding how to look after and deal with O’Keefe’s orphaned nephews, of whom he was taking care. In a nutshell, the prosecution argues that Read hit O’Keefe in a fit of drunken rage and left him to die in the snowstorm.
One of the pieces of evidence against the defendant hinges on her having rhetorically asked McCabe and Kerry Roberts as well as a Canton paramedic, whether she could’ve hit John with her SUV. Another, was when, searching for John in the early hours of the morning, Read seemed to be able to spot O’Keefe’s snow-covered body in the dim light when Roberts and McCabe were unable to. Finally, the prosecution cites some aggressive voicemails the defendant sent the victim around the time of his death. (per NBCBoston)
A very disputed piece of evidence is Read’s broken taillight. Pieces of it were found near O’Keefe’s body. Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory discovered that the taillight contained O’Keefe’s DNA and there were microscopic pieces on his body.
That said, Read’s side argues that this and other pieces of evidence were either planted or misconstrued to frame Karen for a murder she did not commit.
The defense
Admittedly, it could be seen as sketchy how nearly everyone involved in the case had some relation to one another and a motive to cover after each other. This includes the lead investigator in this case, Trooper Michael Proctor, who was especially close to the Albert family. The fact that the officer omitted this fact in his testimony to grand jurors, may indicate that he was aware of how troublesome it would be if his close ties to the involved came to light.
In March of this year, Massachusetts State Police announced that an internal investigation on Proctor was being conducted. (via NBC Boston) Everyone in the house was a relative except for one individual, and one sole individual attested to having seen John O’Keefe inside the house that night, which the prosecution alleges never happened, as he never crossed the threshold.
The most contentious piece of evidence is arguably the autopsy and autopsy photos. By the looks of things, O’Keefe’s injuries appear consistent with someone who’d been in a brawl. These include scratches on his arms which the defense argues were made by his 7-year-old German Shepherd, which he subsequently rehomed. It’s worth noting that two medical examiners did not agree that a canine could have inflicted these scratches.
Another piece of evidence that is paramount to the case is phone records which show that McCabe had googled “Hos [sic] long to die in the cold” at 2:30 a.m., a time when Karen Read was resting at O’Keefe’s house and nowhere near the scene. The search was done again in the early hours of the morning and McCabe has alleged it was Karen who impelled her to google it. The first of the two searches had reportedly been deleted from Jennifer’s phone.
O’Keefe’s body was 12 feet away from the road, which seems to be farfetched if he indeed was run over when Karen backed into him. The inside of the house was never searched by police. The family later replaced the flooring of the basement.
Opening statements start Monday, April 29, 2024.
