Karen Read leave the courthouse Monday, June 16, 2025.as the jury liberates in her murder trial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts.
Karen Read will return to court on Monday afternoon, but this time it won’t be to face the kind of charges that once carried the possibility of life in prison. Instead, she is at the center of a civil case — a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of her late boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe.
We’re Here Thanks To A Hung Jury
Karen Read and her defense team listen to Judge Beverly Cannone as she instructs the jury to continue their deliberations. The Karen Read jury continues to deliberate in Norfolk Superior Court, Dedham for a fourth day as hundreds of supporters wait outside for any news on Wednesday June 18, 2025.
Read’s name has been in headlines for more than two years, ever since O’Keefe was found dead in a snowbank outside a Canton, Massachusetts, home on January 29, 2022. Prosecutors argued she struck him with her SUV after a night of drinking. Her defense team countered with a different story — that O’Keefe was the victim of an assault inside the home, and that Read had been swept up in what they described as a law enforcement cover-up. The first trial ended with a hung jury; the second, this summer, with Read acquitted of the most serious charges, including murder. She was, however, convicted of operating a motor vehicle under the influence.
One Way or Another
Clerk Jim McDermott swears in Karen Read at the sidebar with Judge Beverly Canonne so she can testify that she does not want to take the stand in her own defense in her murder trial in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, June 11, 2025.
Monday’s hearing in Plymouth Superior Court marks the next chapter. O’Keefe’s family filed the wrongful death suit last year, naming not just Read but also the two bars the couple visited that night — the Waterfall Bar & Grille and C.F. McCarthy’s. The complaint, filed by John’s brother Paul O’Keefe on behalf of the family and estate, also alleges negligent infliction of emotional distress. Civil proceedings differ sharply from criminal trials. Instead of proving guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt,” the plaintiffs only need to show that the “preponderance of evidence” suggests Read bears responsibility — that it is more likely than not. That lower burden of proof means the outcome may not mirror the acquittal she secured in criminal court.
Not Over Until It’s Over
Karen Read was acquitted of second-degree murder in the 2022 death of her police officer boyfriend.
Read will have familiar allies by her side. Three lawyers from her criminal defense team, including Alan Jackson and Elizabeth Little, have been cleared to represent her again. Jackson has already hinted that Read might eventually file her own civil case, though he has not said who the target would be or what claims she might pursue. The wrongful death lawsuit has kept the tensions around O’Keefe’s death simmering. For the family, it is another attempt at accountability. For Read, it is a continuation of a fight she and her team argue never should have been hers to begin with.
Read Wants To Rebuild, But Can She?
Karen Read leaves the courthouse Monday, June 16, 2025, to wait for a verdict in her murder trial. Hundreds also await a verdict outside Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts.
Outside the courtroom, Read has begun to cautiously reenter public life. She spoke last month about how she has been trying to rebuild, though the shadow of the case lingers. “It felt like my life was over,” she said in an interview, “but I’m not giving up.” Monday’s hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. and will be livestreamed. While the day’s arguments will focus on legal technicalities — including Read’s team’s effort to dismiss parts of the lawsuit — the broader stakes remain the same: whether John O’Keefe’s death will continue to be legally tethered to Karen Read, even after two criminal juries could not agree. In that sense, the civil case is not just about damages or liability. It is about whose story of that snowy night in Canton takes root in the public record — and whether a jury will find, this time, that the evidence tilts against her.
