(BOSTON) — Karen Read’s second trial is set to begin Tuesday, seven months after a first prosecution in the alleged murder of her police officer boyfriend ended with the jury unable to reach a verdict.
Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, in January 2022. Prosecutors alleged Read hit O’Keefe with her vehicle and left him to die as Boston was hit with a major blizzard. Read has denied the allegations and maintained her innocence.
At least four jurors who served on her first trial last year confirmed that she was found not guilty of second-degree murder and leaving a scene of personal injury and death, according to Read’s attorneys.
Read was also charged with manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence.
She pleaded not guilty to all three charges.
Jury selection in the retrial begins on Tuesday. Jury selection could last weeks. Her first trial lasted more than two months, including deliberations, and drew widespread national coverage.
In a surprise twist this week, Read added one of the alternate jurors from her first trial to her legal team for the retrial. Victoria George, the alternate juror, is a licensed civil attorney in Massachusetts.
Last August, a judge declined to dismiss the two charges in her retrial, saying no verdict was announced in court so she was not acquitted of any charges — despite her attorneys’ claim the jury found her not guilty in deliberations. Read filed several appeals to state and federal courts to get the charges dropped, without success.
Read and O’Keefe met friends for drinks at a local sports bar before the storm and then went to another nearby bar, Read told ABC News.
Around midnight, O’Keefe and some others elected to leave after they were invited to the home of Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer, she said.
Read, who said she was tired, claims she dropped O’Keefe off outside Albert’s residence and then drove her SUV to O’Keefe’s house and fell asleep.
Albert and others who attended the gathering at his home say that O’Keefe never went inside the home.
Read said she awoke alone and anxiously called O’Keefe’s friends to say he never came home.
Read said she drove around Canton for 20 minutes before meeting up with two friends of O’Keefe — Kerry Roberts and Jennifer McCabe, sister-in-law of Brian Albert — and returning to O’Keefe’s house thinking he may have made his way home.
Not finding him at the house, the trio drove back to the home where Read said she dropped him off. They found his body lying motionless on the front snowbank, according to her.
He was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead that morning. An autopsy found that he died of hypothermia and blunt force injuries to the head.
Prosecutors have alleged Read hit O’Keefe with her car and left him to die in the middle of a snowstorm after the two got into an argument earlier that day.
Damning testimony during Read’s trial led to the suspension of Massachusetts State Police Officer Michael Proctor last July. Trial testimony revealed Proctor was communicating with Canton Police Officer Kevin Albert during the investigation ahead of Read’s murder trial.
Albert is the brother of Brian Albert, who hosted the party at the house where O’Keefe’s body was found outside.
Kevin Albert was also placed on administrative leave last July, according to Boston ABC affiliate WCVB.
ABC News’ Meghan Mariani contributed to this report.
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