KAREN Read has been found not guilty of second-degree murder in the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe.

Read broke down in tears while crowds outside the courtroom erupted into cheers and applause as the verdict was read out at the conclusion of the sensational trial.

Karen Read makes a sign to her supporters outside the courthouse in Dedham, Massachusetts, after her murder trial ended on June 18, 2025Credit: AP:Associated Press

Read, 45, burst into tears and hugged her lawyer as the not guilty verdict was read outCredit: CourtTV

Read was accused of murdering her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, a Boston police officerCredit: AP

Read hugging a supporter at the start of WednesdayCredit: AP

A jury acquitted Read, 45, of leaving O’Keefe to die in a snowstorm after hitting him with her car outside a house party in the Boston suburbs in January 2022.

She was found not guilty of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.

The only charge Read was found guilty of on Wednesday was the least serious one: drunk driving, which leaves her with one year of probation.

The verdict concludes a years-long legal battle as Read’s team and supporters have fervently insisted she was the target of a police cover-up framing her for O’Keefe’s death.

Read pleaded not guilty to all charges in the 36-day murder trial.

“No one has fought harder for justice for John O’Keefe than I have. Than I have, and my team,” Read said to a cheering crowd outside Norfolk Superior Court after the trial ended.

Protesters outside the courthouse wore pink and hugged each other after the verdict was read, as some broke out singing God Bless America.

The highly anticipated decision came after the jury deliberated for 21 hours and 17 minutes and ran into several roadblocks along the way.

IN THE DELIBERATING ROOM

Judge Beverly Cannone told the gallery earlier on Wednesday that the jury announced they had a verdict, but then jurors immediately made a U-turn and said they hadn’t actually come to a decision.

An unopened envelope was then put into evidence. It’s unknown what’s in the envelope.

On Tuesday, the jury asked Judge Beverly Cannone four questions, one of which suggested the jurors were split.

“If we find not guilty on two charges but can’t agree on one charge, is it a hung jury on all three charges or just one charge?” the jury asked the judge at around 1:30 pm.

ON TRIAL

O’Keefe, 46, was found dead in the snow outside a house party in January 2022 from injuries to his head and hypothermia.

During the trial, prosecutors said Read fatally struck O’Keefe with her SUV and left him to die in a blizzard after partying.

Prosecutors called nearly 40 witnesses, including O’Keefe’s family and friends, first responders, and experts who explained how Read might have hit him with her car.

Furious texts from Read that she sent to O’Keefe as he lay dying were shown in court as prosecutors insisted she was angry enough to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 her boyfriend after they argued about their relationship that night.

However, defense lawyers argued Read was the victim of a conspiracy by O’Keefe’s fellow cops framing her for her boyfriend’s death.

Her attorneys alleged O’Keefe was beaten to death by the people at the party, bitten by a dog, and dragged outside in the cold.

All of the off-duty cops have denied the allegations that they were responsible for O’Keefe’s death.

O’Keefe’s friends said the jury’s verdict was a “devastating miscarriage of justice” in a statement shared with USA Today.

A Karen Read supporter listening to closing arguments of Read’s trial near Norfolk Superior Court on June 13, 2025Credit: AP

Protesters gathering to support Read as she arrived with her legal team at closing arguments on June 13, 2025Credit: AP

Read’s supporters gathering on the courthouse steps ahead of her trial on April 22, 2025Credit: AP

Read’s first trial ended in a mistrial last July due to a hung jury as jurors couldn’t agree on whether Read was guilty of second-degree murder.

The former lead investigator on the case, Michael Proctor, admitted to sending lewd texts about Read on the stand at the first trial.

Proctor was later fired and didn’t return to testify at the retrial.

Read didn’t testify during the first trial or the retrial, though prosecutors used clips from media interviews to use her words against her and attempt to find inconsistencies in her story.

REVISITING THE CRIME SCENE

Read and O’Keefe went out with friends to two bars in Canton, outside Boston, as the area was preparing for a major snowstorm on January 28, 2022.

The party eventually moved to an after-party at a house nearby, where witnesses say O’Keefe never entered after being dropped off by Read in the early morning.

The prosecution claimed that O’Keefe left the car and Read put the vehicle in reverse, pressing on the gas at about 75%.

Read was accused of hitting O’Keefe at 24 mph, shattering her taillight and sending the man to the ground, causing blunt force trauma injuries to his head, the prosecution claimed.

She then returned to the area hours later with two other women and found O’Keefe lying in the snow near a flagpole.

O’Keefe was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead.

Karen Read and John O’Keefe, who fought over text before he died in January 2022Credit: Dateline

Prosecutors accused Read of leaving O’Keefe for dead outside a house party after hitting him with her SUVCredit: Getty

Read arriving at O’Keefe’s home in her SUV, as seen on a video from his Ring cameraCredit: AP

When a paramedic responded to the scene and asked what happened, the prosecution claimed Read responded, “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.”

“And it was at that time, through the words of the defendant, that she admitted what she had done that night,” said special prosecutor Hank Brennan in his opening statement.

Bits of taillight were also found near O’Keefe, which Read’s attorneys argued were placed to frame her because they didn’t match her car.

The defense’s experts testified that O’Keefe’s injuries — cuts and scratches on his arms — were caused by a dog and that damage done to Read’s taillight wasn’t consistent with hitting a person.

“There is no evidence that John was hit by a car. None. This case should be over right now, done, because there was no collision,” said defense attorney Alan Jackson during closing arguments.

Read is expected to be sentenced in two weeks.

Karen Read has learned her fate in her second murder trialCredit: AP

Read entering the courtroom in Dedham, Massachusetts, on June 18, 2025Credit: AP