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CASE PRIMER · BACKGROUND
The Karen Read cases, explained
One death, three court cases, and a cast of investigators, lawyers and judges. Here's who everyone is and how the matters fit together, before you dive into any single case file.
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On January 29, 2022, Boston police officer John O'Keefe was found unresponsive outside a fellow officer's home in Canton, Massachusetts, and later died. His girlfriend, Karen Read, was accused of striking him with her SUV and leaving him in the snow. Prosecutors called it murder; Read's team argued she was framed and that O'Keefe was beaten inside the house.

That single night has since produced three separate legal fights. A criminal prosecution against Read ended in acquittal on the most serious charges. Two civil cases followed — one Read filed against the people who investigated her, and one the O'Keefe family filed against Read. They run in different courthouses, under different rules, at the same time.

The through-line across all three is the investigation itself: whether it was fair, who ran it, and what they said to one another while they did. That is why the same handful of names — a fired trooper, a resigned sergeant, a defense attorney and a judge — keep reappearing no matter which case you're reading.

↳Full timeline of events→
THE THREE CASES
CRIMINAL · RESOLVED
Norfolk County
Commonwealth v. Karen Read
The murder prosecution. A 2024 trial ended in a mistrial; at a June 2025 retrial a jury acquitted Read of murder and convicted her only of misdemeanor drunk driving. The acquittal is what makes the two civil cases possible.
CIVIL · PRETRIAL
Bristol County
Read v. State Police & Canton
Read's own suit, filed June 2026, accusing the Massachusetts State Police and the Town of Canton of letting biased officers run a corrupt investigation that targeted her.
Open case →
WRONGFUL DEATH · DISCOVERY
Plymouth County
Estate of O'Keefe v. Read
The O'Keefe family's civil claim against Read. A lower burden of proof means she still faces exposure despite the acquittal — and discovery has been consumed by a fight over leaked sealed records.
Open case →
TERMS WORTH KNOWING
Preponderance of the evidence
The civil standard: more likely than not. Far easier to meet than the criminal "beyond a reasonable doubt," which is why Read can lose a civil case after winning the criminal one.
Discovery & depositions
The pretrial evidence-exchange phase. In the civil cases Read can be compelled to answer questions under oath — something she never had to do at the criminal trials.
Impoundment & the leak
Impounded records are sealed by court order. The dispute now dominating the wrongful-death case began when impounded material tied to a witness surfaced online minutes after being circulated to attorneys.
OUI
Operating Under the Influence — Massachusetts' drunk-driving offense. The one charge the criminal jury did convict Read of.
WHO'S WHO
KR
Karen Read
O'Keefe's girlfriend. Acquitted of his murder; now both the plaintiff in one civil case and the defendant in the other.
JO
John O'Keefe
Boston police officer found dead outside a Canton home in January 2022. His estate brings the wrongful-death suit.
MP
Michael Proctor
The State Police trooper who led the investigation, later fired over offensive text messages. A defendant in Read's suit and a witness in the O'Keefe suit.
SG
Sean Goode
The Canton sergeant who responded to the scene and later resigned. Also a defendant in Read's civil suit.
AJ
Alan Jackson
Read's lead attorney, carrying her defense from the criminal trials into the civil litigation.
MG
Hon. Mark Gildea
The judge presiding over the civil matters, now managing the sealed-records leak fight in the wrongful-death case.
See all case actors →
WHY IT STILL MATTERS
An acquittal ended the criminal case, but not the story. The civil cases will test the same investigation under looser rules — and could force answers the criminal trial never did.
Follow all three cases