DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) 鈥� The fate of Karen Read was handed Tuesday to jurors who must decide whether the Massachusetts woman ended a rocky romance by angrily striking her boyfriend with her SUV and leaving him mortally injured in the snow, or is a victim of police corruption, framed to cover up a fight at the home of a fellow Boston officer.
Jurors got to work after a in January 2022. The case has drawn outsized attention, fanned by true crime bloggers and Read鈥檚 pink-shirted supporters.
Defense lawyer Alan Jackson described that 鈥渟preads into a conspiracy,鈥� and told jurors they鈥檙e the 鈥渙nly thing standing between Karen Read and the tyranny of injustice.鈥�
鈥淵ou have been lied to in this courtroom. Your job is to make sure you don鈥檛 ever ever look the other away,鈥� he said Tuesday.
But Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally told jurors 鈥渢here is no conspiracy.鈥� He began his closing argument with the words four witnesses reported hearing Read say after O鈥橩eefe was discovered on the snowy lawn: 鈥淭he defendant repeatedly said 鈥橧 hit him. I hit him. Oh my God. I hit him.鈥�
鈥淭hose were the words that came from the defendant鈥檚 mouth,鈥� Lally said.
Read, a former adjunct professor at Bentley College, is charged with second-degree murder, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, along with manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving a scene of personal injury and death. The manslaughter charge carries a penalty of five to 20 years in prison, and the other charge has a maximum penalty of 10 years.
Her lawyers contend O鈥橩eefe was dragged outside after he was beaten up in the basement and bitten by a dog at Boston officer Brian Albert鈥檚 home in Canton.
鈥淟adies and gentlemen, there was a cover-up in this case, plain and simple,鈥� Jackson said.
Lally, however, showed the jurors what Read herself said that night, in a voice message she left for O鈥橩eefe moments after data from her car recorded her driving in reverse at approximately 24 mph and then leaving the scene. In it, he said, she was 鈥渟eething in rage as she鈥檚 screaming, 鈥楯ohn, I (expletive) hate you!鈥欌��
The defense said witnesses who claimed to have heard her say she hit O鈥橩eefe had changed their story or couldn鈥檛 have heard the comments due to the chaotic scene. Jackson said investigators focused on Read because she was a 鈥渃onvenient outsider鈥� who saved them from having to consider other suspects, including Albert and other law enforcement officers at the house party. In particular, they highlighted connections between Albert and the state trooper who led the investigation.
鈥淢ichael Proctor didn鈥檛 draw a thin blue line, he erected a tall blue wall,鈥� Jackson said. 鈥淎 wall that you can鈥檛 scale, a wall that Karen Read certainly couldn鈥檛 get over. A wall between us and them. A place you folk are not invited. We protect our own.鈥�
Jackson suggested Brian Higgins, a federal agent who had exchanged flirty texts with Read, lured O鈥橩eefe to the house party, where the two got into a fight leading to punches and a fall.
鈥淭he panic sets in,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 intended to go that far but what is done is done.鈥�
Testimony began April 29 after several days of jury selection. Prosecutors spent most of the trial methodically presenting evidence from the scene. The defense called only a handful of witnesses but used its time in cross-examining prosecution witnesses to raise and sloppy police work. The defense was echoed by complaints from a chorus of supporters that often camp outside the courthouse.
Michael Casey, The Associated Press
