(BOSTON) — A woman on the jury that voted to acquit Karen Read this week on murder and manslaughter charges spoke exclusively to ABC News, telling Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman she believed “a collision did not occur” and that a “sloppy police investigation” sunk the case for the prosecution.
“I think, with the evidence presented, a collision did not occur, and that’s all I’m letting myself consider,” said the juror, who declined to speak on camera and asked not to be identified by name in ABC News’ reporting out of concern for her privacy.
When asked what she thought happened to the victim, John O’Keefe, the juror said it “wasn’t [her] job to figure out, and it would have it a lot harder if I had to come up with a theory or had to prove another theory.”
In 2022, Read and O’Keefe, a police officer, had met friends for drinks at two local bars. Around midnight, they and others decided to leave the bar and head to the home of a fellow policer in Canton, Massachusetts, after an invitation to continue the gathering there.
Read said she dropped off O’Keefe, her boyfriend at the time, outside the home.
Prosecutors alleged that Read hit O’Keefe with her car and left him to die. Defense lawyers argued instead that O’Keefe had gotten into a fight inside the home and was also attacked by the homeowners’ dog.
The juror said she thought O’Keefe’s arm injuries looked “a lot more like” a dog bite “than anything else.”
Asked what she thought was the biggest stumbling block the prosecution faced, the juror paused before saying, “The sloppy police investigation.”
“I can’t assess the motive to the sloppy police investigation,” she continued. “It could be tampering, that’s a possibility. It could just be bad police work. But if anyone had done their job correctly, we wouldn’t be in this position. It would either be proved or disproved right away.”
At trial, prosecutors stood by the investigation.
The homeowners, Brian and Nicole Albert, and everyone else at the gathering that night say O’Keefe never entered the home. The Alberts — who have not spoken out about the trial until now — say that they only found out about O’Keefe’s death when Jen McCabe, Nicole’s sister, barged into their bedroom.
“She was just upset, and I immediately thought something had happened to one of her children, or one of my children,” Nicole Albert told ABC News. “Because why else is she in my bedroom at 6:30 in the morning right now?”
“She said, ‘John’s — John’s out front, John, I think John’s dead out front,’” Brian Albert added. “I didn’t understand what she was talking about because why would John be out in front of my house? I was just woken up out of a cold sleep from hanging out the night before. By the time I came downstairs, the police were already in my house. John was already gone. There was nobody to save. I would have taken a bullet for John O’Keefe.”
“I’m just, I’m just very sad,” Nicole said. “What has happened to all of us. It’s just, it’s just heartbreaking,
Speaking about the dramatic moment Wednesday when Judge Cannone said at one point the jury had delivered a verdict only to rescind it minutes later, the juror told ABC News there was “a moment of reconsideration,” leading the full jury to deliberate for several more minutes before returning a verdict.
The juror suggested another fellow juror had suddenly had second thoughts about the group’s verdict, though she declined to describe the moment in detail or specify whether it was one or multiple jurors who had reservations.
“There was a moment of reconsideration that every single person respected,” she said. “No one was upset or, like, ‘Oh we decided, now we need to decide again.’ Like, no, this verdict deserved for it to be supported by all of us, for us to be able to go home and feel settled and comfortable with our choice.”
The juror said the group continued to discuss the case until delivering the verdict to Judge Cannone for the final time and that “it wasn’t one piece of evidence” that caused reasonable doubt among the jury.
“I think it was overall, a lot of the evidence had caused reasonable doubt, and that was enough for us not to convict,” she said.
ABC News’ Boston affiliate WCVB spoke to juror number 11, Paula Prado, who initially thought that Read was guilty of manslaughter but changed her mind as the trial went on.
“As the, the weeks passed by, I just realized there was too many holes that we couldn’t fill,” Prado told WCVB. “And there’s nothing that put her on the scene in our opinion besides just drop John O’Keefe off.”
Asked for her impression of Read as a person, the juror said she found Read to be “working just as hard as the lawyers.”
“She was incredibly involved. There were so many moments where, you know, something was said and she was right on it, writing a sticky note, looking up evidence, turning to get someone’s attention. She was very involved in her own case.”
The Massachusetts State Police issued a statement on Thursday, offering up their condolences to the family and loved ones of O’Keefe.
“The events of the last three years have challenged our Department to thoroughly review our actions and take concrete steps to deliver advanced interrogation training, ensure appropriate oversight, and enhance accountability,” the statement said. “Under my direction as Colonel, the State Police has, and will continue to, improve in these regards. Our focus remains on delivering excellent police services that reflect the value of professionalism and maintain public trust.”
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