A murderous romance or a set-up? What you need to know about the Karen Read murder trial in Boston

BOSTON (AP) — A highly anticipated trial began this week in Massachusetts involving a woman accused of hitting her Boston police officer boyfriend with his SUV and leaving him for dead in a snowbank.

John O’Keefe died in a suburb about 20 miles from Boston on January 29, 2022.

The case has attracted national attention because the defense alleges that state and local law enforcement officials framed it and allowed the real killer to walk free.

Here are the facts and legal arguments of the case:

THE ACCUSATIONS: A TUMULTULOUS RELATIONSHIP BECOMES DEADLY

Karen Read, 44, of Mansfield, Massachusetts, faces several charges, including the second-degree murder of 46-year-old John O’Keefe. The 16-year police veteran was found unconscious outside the home of a fellow Boston police officer.

After an evening of drinking at several bars, prosecutors say Read dropped O’Keefe off at a house party just after midnight. While making a three-point turn, Read allegedly struck O’Keefe before driving away. She returned a few hours later to find him in a snow bank.

Part of what prosecutors are trying to do is show that Read’s actions were intentional. To do so, Deputy Norfolk District Attorney Adam Lally began presenting evidence that the couple had a stormy relationship that began “deteriorating” in the month before O’Keefe’s death. The prosection’s first witness, O’Keefe’s brother Paul, testified that they argued regularly, including over what Read had fed his two adopted children and that he had witnessed a fight that the couple had in 2021 on Cape Cod over the way O’Keefe had treated her.

Paul O’Keefe’s wife, Erin, testified that Read told her the couple got into a fight in Aruba after he caught O’Keefe kissing another woman.

THE DEFENSE: THE POLICE SUPERVISES THE SUSPECT

In their opening statement, the defense team outlined their intention to portray the investigation into O’Keefe’s death as shoddy and undermined by the close relationships investigators had with police and other officers involved. law enforcement at the house party.

They argued that investigators focused on Read because she was a “convenient stranger” and that prevented them from considering other suspects. They plan to argue that someone other than Read was responsible for O’Keefe’s death, but have only floated a theory that he was beaten inside the house and left for dead at the ‘outside.

They also criticized investigators for failing to search the house where the party was taking place to see if a fight had taken place and argued that his injuries were consistent with being beaten.

THE SCENE: DISAFFECTED READING, SCREAMING IN A SNOW STORM

Prosecutors early on appeared to rely on Read’s own words to secure a conviction. Most of the first week was dominated by first responders, who detailed a harrowing scene that morning in January 2022.

They came upon O’Keefe lying on her stomach and Read, distraught and screaming near the body, appearing to have blood on her mouth after performing CPR.

The most incriminating testimony this week came from several first responders who recalled Read telling them loudly and repeatedly that she had “hit” him, although she never said it with her SUV.

Another witness, a police officer among the first on the scene, said Read said it was her fault and that she was responsible, although she did not say how she was responsible.

THE EVIDENCE: ARE THERE INCONSISTENCIES?

The defense worked to undermine the credibility of the first responders testifying for the prosecution. They pointed out errors in a police dispatch log, including the wrong address at which O’Keefe’s body was found.

They also asked a witness, who had heard Read say that O’Keefe’s death was his fault, to acknowledge that he never wrote that in a police report. They also questioned the memory of another witness and suggested another may have been too focused on saving O’Keefe’s life to be able to hear Read say she hit O’ Keefe.

The defense also showed video from the scene suggesting that a first responder, who claimed to have heard Read tell him that she had hit O’Keefe, was not shown speaking to him.

They also attempted to sow doubt in the minds of the jury about the overall investigation, having several witnesses say that they had never heard Read say that she had hit O’Keefe and that they had not nor did he see dozens of pieces of his broken taillight at the scene, evidence prosecutors say he shows. she moved back against him.

THE VICTIM: HOW DID HE DIED AND WHEN

The first days of the trial also detailed the failed efforts of first responders to save O’Keefe. They found him face up when they arrived, just before dawn on January 29.

A witness said O’Keefe was not breathing and had no pulse. Another said his body temperature was only 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.6 Celsius), which he described as extreme hyperthermia.

O’Keefe’s condition never changed, despite the efforts of first responders on the way to a local hospital. He was pronounced dead at the hospital and an autopsy later revealed he died of hypothermia and blunt force trauma.