America’s ‘happiest murder defendant’ Karen Read has said she is willing to testify as she stands accused of murdering her Boston cop boyfriend.
Read, 44, has long denied having any involvement in her boyfriend John O’Keefe’s death in January 2022 – instead claiming she is being framed by police in a vast conspiracy.
She now says she would like to prove her case herself.
‘I’d like to fill in some holes and correct some lies,’ Read told reporters outside the Norfolk County Superior Court on Tuesday, wearing a black blouse and white patterned scarf as her hair blew in the wind.
‘But it’s up to the attorneys and they’ll make the call – probably at the 11th hour.
‘I’m there or not there,’ she continued. ‘I defer to them.’
Karen Read, 44, told reporters on Tuesday she is willing to take the stand in her murder trial
Smiling, Read went on to explain why she would like to take the stand.
‘I’m an outspoken person and I’ve never not been able to speak up for myself in my defense except when it matters most,’ she said.
‘I’ve got to rely on them and their expertise,’ Read said of her defense team. ‘I’ll defer to the attorneys.’
Read’s appearance outside the courthouse on Tuesday came as attorneys on both sides were arguing whether to allow certain defense witnesses.
They subjected the potential witnesses to questioning without a jury, as the trial is set to continue with the prosecution wrapping up its case on Thursday.
But Read derided the arguments the prosecution has made thus far, telling reporters on Tuesday: ‘There is no case against me.
‘After eight weeks, it’s smoke and mirrors, and it’s going through my private life and trying to contrive a motive that was never there.’
John O’Keefe, a 16-year Boston cop, was found dead around 6am on January 29, 2022, outside a house where Read dropped him off for an afterparty around 12.45am
Prosecutors have claimed Read and O’Keefe’s relationship was on the rocks at the time
O’Keefe’s was found unconscious in a snowbank outside a house Read dropped him off at the night before, with skull fractures, swollen eyes and hypothermia at around 6am on January 29, 2022.
He and Read had earlier gone out to celebrate the acceptance of his niece into private school, and footage from one of the bars, CR McCarthy’s in Boston, showed her embracing O’Keefe – hugging and kissing the man she is accused of killing just hours later.
But prosecutors claim Read and O’Keefe’s relationship had been on the rocks amid allegations he was cheating and tensions over the two children in O’Keefe’s care – his orphaned niece and nephew.
They claim she then hit O’Keefe outside of the house party with her SUV that night and left him to die – pointing to fragments from her car that were left at the scene.
The two had gone out drinking at a Boston bar before she dropped him off at the party
Prosecutors have also claimed that witnesses at the scene heard Read yell ‘I hit him!’ when she and two friends found his body, along with ‘this is my fault. I did this.’
Read’s defense, however, was able to get cops to acknowledge they never actually heard her say she hit O’Keefe, who was a 16-year veteran of the Boston Police Department.
Defense attorneys also refuted the idea there was trouble with the relationship, with O’Keefe’s friends at the bar testifying that the couple seemed content that night.
Instead, they claim O’Keefe was beaten up by people at the party and thrown outside where he died on the lawn.
They argue that the police did not then properly investigate O’Keefe’s death, and have singled out Massachusetts State Trooper Lt. Michael Proctor for his close relationship with a number of law enforcement connected to the case – including the owner of the home where O’Keefe was found, Brian Albert.
Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor admitted last week to sending text messages disparaging Read
Proctor, who led the investigation into O’Keefe’s death, has since admitted in court to sending text messages disparaging Read and denying that Albert would face any repercussions.
He called Read a ‘whack job’ and a ‘cunt’ and referred to her as a ‘babe’ with ‘no ass,’ while also making light of her ‘Fall River accent’ in some text messages to friends, while in others he joked about rummaging through her phone for nude photos during the course of the investigation.
In other messages, Proctor texted his friends that there will ‘be some serious charges brought on the girl,’ referring to Read.
He claimed in the messages that Read ‘waffled him’ and that ‘she hit him with her car,’ according to the Boston Globe.
‘We’re going to lock this whack job up,’ he wrote in one of the messages.
On the stand last week, Proctor repeatedly apologized for the text messages, calling it ‘poor language’ that had ‘no bearing’ on the investigation.
He said that ‘these juvenile, unprofessional comments had zero impact on the facts, the evidence and the integrity of the investigation.’