The trial of Karen Read ended in a way nobody on John O’Keefe’s side saw coming.
After 36 long days in a Massachusetts courtroom, the jury decided Read wasn’t guilty of hitting O’Keefe outside a house party back in 2022. Instead, she was only convicted of drunk driving and sentenced to one year of probation, a result that left O’Keefe’s family wondering if they’ll ever see justice.
Read had denied killing O’Keefe all along. From the beginning, she told anyone who would listen that she was framed by cops in a cover-up. Prosecutors had insisted she backed into him after drinking at C.F. McCarthy’s and the Waterfall Bar & Grille in Canton, Massachusetts, then left him to die in the snow. But the jury decided she never struck him with her SUV.
That means the wrongful death suit O’Keefe’s family filed back in August 2024 is now on shaky ground. Without a guilty verdict for murder or vehicular homicide, they’ll face a much steeper climb to hold Read liable. According to Los Angeles trial lawyer Neama Rahmani, Read’s criminal acquittal for hitting him will make it tough to prove anything different in civil court, even though civil trials only require a lower burden of proof.
What really hurt the case? Plenty of botched police work. Investigators never treated the scene like a serious crime scene. They used solo cups and plastic bags to collect evidence. Michael Proctor, the lead investigator, even sent rude texts about Read. Read’s defense team also suggested that other partygoers like Brian Albert or Brian Higgins could have been involved. The trial became as much about sloppy policing and alleged cover-ups as it was about Read herself.
And that’s not even mentioning the first trial, which ended in a hung jury after five days of deliberation. That was July 1, 2024. After months of delays, the second trial began April 22, 2025, and ended with the not-guilty verdict for murder on June 18, 2025.
Read’s civil suit still names the two bars that served her drinks, C.F. McCarthy’s and Waterfall Bar & Grille, arguing they’re partly to blame. Civil attorney Tre Lovell told The U.S. Sun that Read will have to testify this time because civil cases don’t allow for a right to remain silent like criminal ones. That opens up her drinking habits and decisions that night to serious scrutiny.
As for the police? Massachusetts State Police Colonel Geoffrey Noble acknowledged public frustration. He promised better training, more oversight, and to hold investigators to higher standards after this trial dragged the department through the mud.
Read may have walked out of criminal court mostly free, but O’Keefe’s family left devastated. One of his closest friends told NBC10 Boston they felt like they were living in a three-and-a-half-year nightmare. Outside the courthouse, some people hugged and sang “God Bless America,” while O’Keefe’s parents left without a word.
For millions watching this case, it felt like more than just one trial. It was a test of whether a victim’s family could still count on justice when the system failed at every level. The jury’s decision to convict only on drunk driving and not on the death itself, along with a civil suit still pending, means this saga is far from over.
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