June 18 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts jury on Wednesday found Karen Read not guilty of murdering her boyfriend, a Boston police officer, in 2022, almost one year after another trial ended in a hung jury.
In Dedham, near Boston, the jurors found her guilty of operating under the influence of liquor, and Judge Beverly Cannone sentenced her to one year's probation for a first-time offense. Read was acquitted of second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene after an accident.
Read, 45, embraced her legal team and cried after the verdict. She had faced the possibility of life in prison if convicted of murdering John O'Keefe
Defense attorney David Yannetti, who has represented Read since she was arrested, appeared to wipe away tears.
"No one has fought harder for justice for John O'Keefe than I have -- than I have and my team," the Mansfield woman said after leaving the courthouse.
Supporters outside cheered and shouted "Karen is free " when the verdict was given.
Read thanked her "amazing supporters."
People who knew O'Keefe called it a "devastating miscarriage of justice."
"Today, our hearts are with John and the entire O'Keefe family," they said in a statement obtained by NBC News. "They have suffered through so much and deserved better from our justice system. While we may have more to say in the future, today we mourn with John's family and lament the cruel reality that this prosecution was infected by lies and conspiracy theories spread by Karen Read, her defense team, and some in the media."
Jurors began deliberating on Friday after nearly eight weeks of testimony.
The judge told the courtroom earlier Wednesday that the jurors said they had reached a verdict, then updated that they didn't have a verdict. Cannone informed the court that there was not yet a verdict "because, as we all know, there is no verdict until it is announced and recorded in open court."
Read didn't take the stand in both trials.
Prosecutors said she intentionally backed her SUV into O'Keefe in January 2022 after a night of heavy drinking and then left him to die during a major blizzard in Canton.
He was found outside the suburban home of a now-retired Boston police sergeant.
O'Keefe, 46, died of blunt force head trauma, according to the medical examiner's report. Hypothermia was a contributing factor.
There were no eyewitness accounts or video of the event.
Read told investigators she found O'Keefe's body shortly after 6 a.m. First responders recalled her repeatedly saying, "I hit him."
Read said she was framed in a cover-up.
Her defense had argued her vehicle did not hit O'Keefe, and he was attacked by a dog and beaten by other people in the house before he was thrown out in the snow.
On July 1, 2024, the judge declared a mistrial after the jury of six men and six women said it was deadlocked because of "deeply held convictions that each of us carry."
The Norfolk County District Attorney's Office decided to retry the case.
Her attorney had appealed a decision to retry the case. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court on April said it wouldn't amount to double jeopardy.
Massachusetts State Police announced that Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the case, has been "relieved of duty."
