Karen Reed retrial: Opening statements start today for woman accused of running over cop boyfriend

Opening statements in the second trial of Karen Read — a Massachusetts woman accused of killing her police officer boyfriend with her SUV — are set to begin.

The 45-year-old is charged with second-degree murder, motor vehicular manslaughter, and leaving the scene of a collision causing death. She has pleaded not guilty.

John O’Keefe, a veteran of the Boston Police Department, was found dead in late January 2022; a medical examiner determined he died of hypothermia and blunt-force head trauma.

The pair had been drinking with other officers in the Boston area before driving to a now-retired sergeant’s home. O’Keefe was found unresponsive in the sergeant’s yard. No witnesses and no video footage captured the moments before O’Keefe died.

Prosecutors in the first trial argued that Read intentionally backed into O'Keefe after she dropped him off and came back later to find him dead, while her defense attorneys argued she was made the scapegoat after someone else — potentially officers at the party — beat him to death.

One year ago, Read’s first murder trial ended in a mistrial after jurors reached an impasse. Read asked the state’s highest court to drop two charges — including second-degree murder — because several jurors post-trial expressed they would have voted to acquit her on those counts. The court rejected her request.

Earlier this month, Read appealed her case to the Supreme Court over double jeopardy concerns. The court said it would review whether to take the case on April 25, but rejected her request to delay the retrial.