Karen Read’s murder trial is ‘a circus,’ friend says, rejecting claim she killed her boyfriend, a police officer (exclusive)

Karen Read is accused of murdering her boyfriend John O’Keefe in 2022, but she claims she is the victim of a massive police cover-up

With its eye-popping revelations and countless twists and turns, the Karen Read murder trial was a wild ride for anyone who followed this sensational case in the Boston area.

Read, 44, of Mansfield, Massachusetts, is accused of driving her Lexus SUV while drunk in the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2022, into her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, 46, and leaving him to die in the snow, prosecutors allege.

Read and her lawyers claim that something else happened at the house party in Canton, Massachusetts, where she dropped O’Keefe off that night: that O’Keefe was allegedly beaten up by someone there with whom he had a long-standing feud. Read’s defense argues that she is the victim of a massive cover-up by local and state law enforcement.

“Karen Read was framed,” defense attorney David Yannetti said during his opening statement in April. “She was not responsible for his death, and that means someone else was.”

Related: A Massachusetts woman is accused of fatally running over her boyfriend, a police officer – her lawyers say she was drawn into a cover-up

Every day for months, diehard supporters of both sides have gathered outside the Norfolk County Superior Court in Dedham holding signs. Read’s supporters hold signs that read “Hanged,” while critics chant “Cop killer!”

“It’s become a circus,” O’Keefe’s friend Sean Hickey tells PEOPLE. “People are screaming ‘Free Karen Read’ to his parents, who are retired. It’s a disgrace. Everyone has forgotten that a human being lost his life, no matter how good a person he was.”

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For her part, Read, a financial analyst who worked as an adjunct professor at Bentley University, says she loved O’Keefe and did not kill him. “I never harmed a hair on John O’Keefe’s head,” she told ABC News in August 2023.

The prosecution sees things differently, arguing in court that she allegedly made a confession when she was heard at the crime scene saying, “I hit him.” She and her lawyers claim that she did not know whether she had hit him and that she actually asked, “Did I hit him?”

O’Keefe’s injuries were not consistent with a car accident — particularly his two black eyes and the deep, claw-like marks on his right arm, her lawyers contend. Yannetti believes O’Keefe may have been attacked by a dog at the home of retired Boston police officer Brian Albert, who was hosting a gathering that night that O’Keefe may have attended, a central point of contention in the case. (The dog has since found a new home.)

The theory of a police cover-up is further fueled, Read’s lawyers claim, by a series of alleged “butt dials” between Albert and ATF agent Brian Higgins, who was there that night, as well as between Albert’s sister-in-law, Jennifer McCabe, and O’Keefe before the latter was found unconscious and bleeding in the yard.

Read’s lawyers cite a group text message between party attendees as further evidence of a cover-up.

“Tell them the guy never went into the house,” reads a message from a party guest.

According to Read’s lawyers, Albert replied: “Exactly.”

They also point to a Google search McCabe allegedly performed at 2:27 a.m. to find out how long it takes to die in the cold.

Read’s longtime friend Jon Silveira hopes Read is found innocent. He calls her “very honest, very generous and a great friend” and tells PEOPLE, “It’s an honor to know her and it’s an honor to defend her in this whole mess that she’s dealing with.”

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