Latest news with #C.F.McCarthy's
New York Post
2 days ago
- New York Post
How Karen Read could still be on the hook for dead cop boyfriend John O'Keefe's death: ‘Not out of the woods'
Karen Read may have been cleared on criminal murder charges Wednesday — but she isn't legally off the hook yet as still faces a civil wrongful death case brought by the family of her deceased cop boyfriend, John O'Keefe. The 2024 lawsuit against Read, 45, has been on hold pending the outcome of her criminal case. 4 Karen Read isn't legally out of the woods despite her murder acquittal. She still faces a civil lawsuit by deceased cop John O'Keefe's family. AP But after she was acquitted in the Boston police officer's death Wednesday — and was sentenced to a year probation for drunk driving, the only charge she was found guilty of — the civil case is presumably free to go forward. The Aug. 26 case was brought by O'Keefe's parents, brother and niece nearly two months after the first trial against Read ended in mistrial. 4 Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe died on Jan. 29, 2022, and his family filed a wrongful death suit against Karen Read last year. Courtesy of David Yannetti The family claimed Read, of Mansfield, Mass., intentionally hit O'Keefe with her Lexus SUV while she was drunk and then left him to die in a snowstorm. The relatives also blamed two bars — C.F. McCarthy's and Waterfall Bar & Grille — for allegedly over-serving Read when she and O'Keefe, 46, went out bar hopping in the hours before his death on Jan. 29, 2022. Read — a financial analyst — allegedly had nine drinks the night of Jan. 28 before she drove O'Keefe from the Waterfall Bar to his retired cop buddy's afterparty in Canton, Mass., the suit claimed. Read inflicted emotional distress on the family members who were forced to endure the investigation into O'Keefe's death, the suit said. And Read traumatized O'Keefe's then-14-year-old niece — for whom he was the caretaker when he died — when Read woke the teen up at 4:30 a.m., ranting about what might have happened to her boyfriend, the suit claimed. 4 John O'Keefe's family claims Read was drunk when she hit him with her car and left him to die in a snowstorm. David McGlynn Then Read left the niece at home alone when she went in search of O'Keefe, the filing said. The suit is seeking at least $50,000 in damages. Legal expert Randolph Rice, who has been following the Read case, noted that the burden of proof to find Read liable in O'Keefe's death is much lower than a criminal proceeding. 'In the civil case, there's a preponderance of the evidence which is a much lower standard,' than the standard of beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal cases, the Maryland-based lawyer explained. Proving claims in a civil case is 'much easier for a plaintiff,' Rice said. 'She's not out of the woods civilly.' 4 The family is suing Read for at least $50,000 in damages for allegedly inflicting emotional distress on them. AP Rice said now that the criminal case is behind her, she doesn't have a legal reason to not sit in for a deposition. 'Her lawyers will certainly try to keep things out during a deposition but depositions are wide open,' he said. 'If it's even remotely relevant to the cause of action the plaintiff's attorneys get to ask it and she's got to answer it.' Read has maintained all along that she was framed in a sweeping law enforcement cover-up and that O'Keefe was actually killed when he got in a fight with his buddies at the afterparty. Read's defense arguments have won her a cult-like following of supporters of her innocence who have donated over $1 million to her legal defense, and who showed up in droves outside court throughout both trials. When the verdict was read out in court Wednesday — and broadcast on a livestream — roars from crowds of excited Read fans outside could be heard penetrating the courtroom walls. Lawyers for C.F. McCarthy's declined to comment. The attorneys for all the other parties didn't immediately return requests for comment Thursday.
USA Today
3 days ago
- USA Today
Karen Read's second murder trial is not the end of her legal troubles. Here's why.
Karen Read's second murder trial is not the end of her legal troubles. Here's why. On June 13, the jury began deliberating in Karen Read's second murder trial, but this trial is not it for Read's legal troubles. Read, 45, is accused of killing her boyfriend, Braintree native and Boston police officer John O'Keefe outside a Canton home in January 2022. Read's first trial in O'Keefe's death ended in a mistrial in July. O'Keefe's family in August filed a civil lawsuit in Plymouth Superior Court against Read and two bars in Canton that she and O'Keefe visited before his death. O'Keefe family is suing Karen Read, C.F. McCarthy's and the Waterfall John O'Keefe's brother, Paul O'Keefe, and his estate filed a civil lawsuit in Plymouth Superior Court in August against John O'Keefe's girlfriend, Karen Read, and Canton bars C.F. McCarthy's and the Waterfall. The suit is seeking at least $50,000 in damages including "reasonably expected society, companionship, comfort, guidance, counsel, net income, services, assistance, protection, care, and advice to next of kin." The lawsuit states Read's conduct was "extreme and outrageous, beyond the bounds of decency and was utterly intolerable" and that she "outrageously created a false narrative." Read's counsel filed motioned to stay the civil case until the criminal case is resolved, arguing that parallel civil and criminal proceedings could undermine Read's Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. Judge William White Jr. in November ordered the halt of Read's scheduled deposition in the civil case and any other discovery directly related to her. Other discovery proceedings were allowed to continue without pause, according to the ruling. Karen Read charged with second-degree murder Read was charged with second-degree murder after O'Keefe's body was found in the front lawn outside the Canton home of a fellow Boston police officer Jan. 29, 2022, during a snowstorm. Prosecutors say Read was drunk and angry when she purposely hit him after a night of drinking at C.F. McCarthy's and the Waterfall. But defense attorneys for Read say she was framed for O'Keefe's death. Read is also charged with manslaughter while driving drunk and leaving the scene of personal injury and death.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Karen Read's second murder trial is not the end of her legal troubles. Here's why.
On June 13, the jury began deliberating in Karen Read's second murder trial, but this trial is not it for Read's legal troubles. Read, 45, is accused of killing her boyfriend, Braintree native and Boston police officer John O'Keefe outside a Canton home in January 2022. Read's first trial in O'Keefe's death ended in a mistrial in July. O'Keefe's family in August filed a civil lawsuit in Plymouth Superior Court against Read and two bars in Canton that she and O'Keefe visited before his death. John O'Keefe's brother, Paul O'Keefe, and his estate filed a civil lawsuit in Plymouth Superior Court in August against John O'Keefe's girlfriend, Karen Read, and Canton bars C.F. McCarthy's and the Waterfall. The suit is seeking at least $50,000 in damages including "reasonably expected society, companionship, comfort, guidance, counsel, net income, services, assistance, protection, care, and advice to next of kin." The lawsuit states Read's conduct was "extreme and outrageous, beyond the bounds of decency and was utterly intolerable" and that she "outrageously created a false narrative." Read's counsel filed motioned to stay the civil case until the criminal case is resolved, arguing that parallel civil and criminal proceedings could undermine Read's Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. Judge William White Jr. in November ordered the halt of Read's scheduled deposition in the civil case and any other discovery directly related to her. Other discovery proceedings were allowed to continue without pause, according to the ruling. Read was charged with second-degree murder after O'Keefe's body was found in the front lawn outside the Canton home of a fellow Boston police officer Jan. 29, 2022, during a snowstorm. Prosecutors say Read was drunk and angry when she purposely hit him after a night of drinking at C.F. McCarthy's and the Waterfall. But defense attorneys for Read say she was framed for O'Keefe's death. Read is also charged with manslaughter while driving drunk and leaving the scene of personal injury and death. This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Karen Read trial: What's the status of her civil case?
CBS News
29-01-2025
- CBS News
3 years after John O'Keefe's death, Karen Read murder trial still center stage
CANTON - It's now been three years since Boston police officer John O'Keefe's body was found in a snowy front yard at 34 Fairview Road in Canton, Massachusetts. His girlfriend at the time, Karen Read, will face her second trial in the case later this year. Read is accused of running over O'Keefe with her SUV on January 29, 2022. O'Keefe, 46, is remembered as a generous man, loved by all, according to his family and friends. "It has been 3 years since Johnny was senselessly taken from us," the O'Keefe family said in a statement to WBZ-TV. "The void in our lives grows with each passing day, week, month and year. His absence is profound and we will continue to seek justice for him. He is always in our hearts." O'Keefe was the legal caretaker of his teenage niece and nephew, who lost both of their parents when O'Keefe's sister, Kristen, died in 2013 from brain cancer, and her husband died shortly after from a heart attack. What happened the night John O'Keefe died? It's uncontested that O'Keefe was out drinking with some friends at C.F. McCarthy's in Canton on the night of January 28, 2022. Read met up with him there. The couple later joined other friends at the Waterfall Bar & Grille in Canton. Shortly after midnight, the group left to attend an after party at 34 Fairview Road, the home of fellow Boston police officer Brian Albert. O'Keefe was in the passenger seat of Read's Lexus as she drove to the house. What follows has been hotly debated among lawyers, police, and the community for three years. According to prosecutors with the Norfolk County District Attorney's office, O'Keefe and Read fought. O'Keefe got out of the car, but never made it into the house, as they allege Read drunkenly and angrily put her car in reverse, drove backwards 62 feet at 24 miles per hour, and hit O'Keefe. Read's legal team says O'Keefe went into the house, was attacked by a number of men at the after party, and his body was later dumped on the front lawn - the first step in an elaborate cover up to frame Read, they allege. Read's criminal trial exposed inappropriate text messages from a state trooper, as well as flaws in the investigation into O'Keefe's death. Karen Read and two witnesses in the case discovered O'Keefe's body on the front lawn at Fairview Road shortly after 6 a.m. on January 29, 2022. The medical examiner testified that he died from a combination of blunt force trauma to the head and hypothermia. What's the latest in the John O'Keefe case? Karen Read's first trial - in which she was tried for murder, among other things - ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury on July 1. The trial lasted ten weeks, and had more than seventy witnesses. Read is scheduled to be retried on April 1, 2025. Read's team has moved to dismiss two of her charges, due to post-trial interviews with jurors who confirmed that the jury unanimously agreed to acquit Read on two charges, but never reported the vote to the judge. That issue is currently being decided by the highest court in Massachusetts, the Supreme Judicial Court. In addition, Read is facing a civil wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of John O'Keefe. Hearings on the suit have been delayed until after her criminal trial ends.
