The second murder trial of Karen Read, a Massachusetts woman accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend, began its second full day of witness testimony.
Read’s first trial ended with a hung jury in a case that has garnered nationwide attention. Interest in the case has spurred podcasts, movies and television shows. The presiding judge in the case, Beverly Cannone, barred supporters of either side from demonstrating within 200 feet of the courthouse.
Read, 45, was tried on charges of second-degree murder last year for the alleged killing of her 46-year-old partner, John O’Keefe. Prosecutors accused Read of striking O’Keefe with her SUV then leaving him to die in the snow. Read’s attorneys say she was framed in O’Keefe’s death. The trial is expected to last up to eight weeks.
More: Karen Read trial takeaways: Alleged murder in the snow brings tearful testimony
What happened in the first days of the Karen Read trial?
In his April 22 opening statement, Special prosecutor Hank Brennan, who was hired by the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office to handle Read’s second trial, told jurors that Read deliberately struck John O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV in a drunken rage and left him mortally wounded in the snow in front of a fellow Boston cop’s house in January 2022.
Read’s defense attorney, Alan Jackson, told the jury the collision did not happen and the investigation into Read was filled with errors, bias and incompetence.
So far, three witnesses have taken the stand: Timothy Nuttall, a firefighter and paramedic who was at the scene the night of O’Keefe’s death; O’Keefe’s mother, Peggy O’Keefe; and O’Keefe’s friend, Kerry Roberts.
How to watch Karen Read trial
CourtTV has been covering the case against Read and the investigation surrounding Read’s alleged crime since early 2022, when Boston police Officer John O’Keefe’s body was found outside a Canton home.
You can watch CourtTV’s live feed of the Read trial proceedings from Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts. Proceedings begins at 9 a.m. ET
Contributing: Vin Velasco, USA TODAY NETWORK
