Northeast
Karen Read arrives at Massachusetts court through sea of ‘cop killer’ chants, supporters in fight to drop case
Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman who was accused of killing her police officer boyfriend with a vehicle in January 2022, was back in court Friday for a hearing discussing her defense team’s motion to dismiss.
Attorney Martin Weinberg argued for Read in court on Friday. Attorneys Alan Jackson and David Yannetti previously argued that two of three charges filed against Read, 44, including second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident, should be dismissed following a mistrial in June.
Her lawyers told Judge Beverly J. Cannone that jurors reportedly agreed that Read was not guilty on two of the charges, and that another trial would subject Read to “double jeopardy.”
Prosecutors plan to retry Read in January. Cannone heard arguments from both sides and said she will take them under advisement, without making a decision Friday.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR KAREN READ?
Karen Read departs Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts on Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. Read, who was accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend with a vehicle in January 2022, was back in court Friday for a hearing discussing her defense team’s motion to dismiss. (Patriot Pics/Backgrid for Fox News Digital)
Karen Read departs Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts on Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (Patriot Pics/Backgrid for Fox News Digital)
Read arrived at the Norfolk County Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts, on Friday afternoon surrounded by dueling onlookers: those who cheered her and held up signs that read, “Free Karen” and “Framed,” versus those who chanted, “Cop killer” repeatedly as she walked up the courthouse steps.
Jackson and Yannetti argued during the June trial that accusations against Read alleging she killed her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, are part of an elaborate cover-up and frame job.
Following a weeks-long trial and 26 hours of deliberation, the Norfolk County jury was deadlocked and Cannone declared a mistrial on July 1.
Prosecutors argued during the trial that after a night of drinking on Jan. 28, 2022, a shouting match between O’Keefe and Read — a financial analyst — turned deadly when Read allegedly backed into O’Keefe with her SUV. Prosecutors further alleged she left her boyfriend to die in front of a Canton home during a nor’easter.
Karen Read departs Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts on Friday, August 9, 2024. Read, who was accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend with a vehicle in January 2022, was back in court Friday for a hearing discussing her defense team’s motion to dismiss. (Patriot Pics/Backgrid for Fox News Digital)
Karen Read smiles as defense attorney David Yannetti speaks to reporters in front of Norfolk Superior Court after the judge declared a mistrial after jurors were unable to reach a verdict following a two-month trial, Monday, July 1, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Authorities located his body on the front lawn of an influential family with deep ties to law enforcement and prosecutors.
KAREN READ MURDER CASE ENDS WITH ‘DEEPLY DIVIDED’ JURY’S DECISION
The question remains: Who killed John O’Keefe?
Read’s defense claimed the family who owned the home where O’Keefe was found dead in the snow on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, framed her for his death in an elaborate cover-up.
Karen Read smiles during a news conference in front of Norfolk Superior Court, Monday, July 1, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. A judge declared a mistrial after jurors deadlocked in the case of Read, who was accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend by striking him with her SUV and leaving him in a snowstorm. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Karen A. Read, girlfriend of the late Boston Police officer John OKeefe, was arraigned in Norfolk Superior Court on charges of second degree murder in his death in Dedham, MA on June 10, 2022. A photo of the couple together was presented by the defense to the prosecution. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
The case has sparked debate between Boston-area locals who blame Read for O’Keefe’s death and those who think she’s innocent.
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“It’s turned into the Karen Read show,” O’Keefe’s brother, Paul O’Keefe, told CBS Boston in July. “She walks through a crowd that cheers her on. She goes in public and takes pictures and signs autographs.
View of 34 Fairview Road in Canton, Massachusetts on Feb. 2, 2022. Massachusetts State Police homicide detectives arrested Karen A. Read, of Mansfield, on a manslaughter warrant in the death of John OKeefe, a Boston Police officer who was found unresponsive outside a Canton residence. (Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
“She’s just living life like nothing ever happened,” he said at the time.
The jurors who presided over the June trial were “deeply divided” because of “deeply held convictions,” ultimately deciding that a “consensus is unattainable,” according to the judge’s notes from July.
WATCH: DASHCAM FROM THE NIGHT JOHN O’KEEFE WAS FOUND DEAD
A Norfolk County grand jury in June 2022 indicted Bentley University Professor Karen Read, 42, of Mansfield, for second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter, and leaving the scene of a collision, which prosecutors said caused 46-year-old Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe’s death. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe)
“Despite our commitment to the duty entrusted in us, we find ourselves deeply divided by fundamental differences in our opinions and state of mind,” the jury wrote in its final note to the judge.
Fox News Digital’s Chris Eberhart contributed to this report.
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State Treasurer Erick Russell achieved a 14% increase last year investing Connecticut’s pension fund assets, gaining roughly $8.3 billion for retirement programs for state employees, teachers and other municipal workers.
The state, which oversees nearly $69 billion in pension assets, aims for an average annual return on pension investments of 6.9%.
Expectations for bigger gains grew throughout the past year as key stock market indices surged. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, an index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges, grew by more than 13% in 2025. And the S&P 500, which follows 500 traded companies, topped 16%.
Among peer states and other entities that manage public pension funds holding more than $10 billion in assets, Connecticut’s 2025 performance ranks in the top 17%, Russell said.
But the treasurer, who also announced this week he will seek a second term, said the latest big earnings stem from more than the big gains Wall Street enjoyed in 2025.
“Markets certainly have been strong, but a lot of this is about our overall asset allocation,” said Russell, who updated the Investment Advisory Council Tuesday on the state’s portfolio. “The progress we’ve been making … is a good sign that we’re set up for future success.”
Russell also reported investment gains of 10.3% for the 2024 calendar year and 12.8% for 2023.
State officials particularly have focused on improving investment returns since a May 2023 report from Yale University researchers found Connecticut’s results badly lagged the nation’s over the prior decade.
That only compounded an even larger pension problem that state officials began to address in the early 2010s. According to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, Connecticut governors and legislatures failed to save adequate for pension benefits for more than seven decades prior to 2011. This deprived the state treasurer of huge assets that otherwise could have been invested to generate billions of dollars in revenue over those seven decades.
The treasurer’s office under Russell has put more funds into private and domestic markets and curbed reliance on investment managers who receive large fees for their work.
Gov. Ned Lamont and the General Assembly also have greatly assisted efforts to bolster the fiscal health of pension programs in recent years. Since 2020, they have used $10 billion from budget surpluses to make supplemental payments into pensions for state employees and municipal teachers. That’s in addition to annual required payments that currently approach $3.3 billion in the General Fund.
“These returns highlight the impressive work of Treasurer Russell and his team in increasing investment returns,” Lamont’s budget spokesman, Chris Collibee, said Tuesday. “Gov. Lamont’s focus has been on building a sustainable Connecticut for the future. Every dollar in additional investment revenue is funds the state can use to cut taxes and provide more resources for essential programs like education, child care, housing, and social services safety nets.”
Russell, a New Haven Democrat, said he has tried to make the office both “disciplined and forward-looking.”
“Over the last several years, we haven’t just changed how the office works, we’ve changed who it works for. We’re ushering in a new era of fiscal responsibility, making significant payments on long-term debt that has allowed us to invest in the residents of Connecticut and begin to lift up communities across our state.”
Russell also brokered a key compromise in 2023 between Lamont and the legislature that salvaged the Baby Bonds program, an initiative that invests long-term funds in Connecticut’s poorest children when they’re born to help finance educational and business opportunities later in life.
Keith M. Phaneuf is a reporter for The Connecticut Mirror (https://ctmirror.org). Copyright 2026 © The Connecticut Mirror.
A person was hit by a vehicle Tuesday morning in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Police responded just after 10 a.m. to the crash at the intersection of Elm Street and Carter Street.
Officers began treating the pedestrian, who was then taken to an area hospital with unspecified injuries.
The driver stayed at the scene, the Waltham Police Department said.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
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