The prosecutor who judged Karen read on Monday that he was “disappointed” that he was acquitted and in the lack of justice for the man who was accused of killing.
The special prosecutor Hank Brennan, who was appointed by the Norfolk County District prosecutor after the first Read trial ended with a hanging jury, said they had given him “full discretion to independently evaluate the case and follow the evidence regardless of where he led.”
“After an independent and exhaustive review of all the evidence, I concluded that the evidence led a person and only one person,” said Brennan in a text message to NBC Boston.
Brennan also denounced a “intimidation and abuse campaign” aimed at witnesses in the widely publicized case.
“If this type of behavior becomes common, the integrity of our judicial system that affects both the victims and the criminals criminally,” he said. “We cannot tolerate the abuse of witnesses that cause participants to worry about their own safety or that of their families.”
A jury acquitted Read, 45, of second degree murder, homicide of motor vehicles while driving under the influence and left the scene of a collision that caused the death of John O’Keefe on January 29, 2022.
The condemned panel read of a single position: operate under the influence. It was sentenced to a year of probation.
The authorities had claimed that Read was furious for the state of her crumbled relationship with O’Keefe, a Boston police officer, when she backed her SUV in him and left him for dead.
Read defense team said he was the victim of a partial and corrupt police investigation that did not consider other suspects. The former Massachusetts state soldier who directed the research on O’Kefe’s death was fired for his behavior in the investigation, but has denied the accusations of corruption.
In his statement, Brennan offered his “more sincere condolences” to the O’Keefe family and said he hopes they find peace and closing.
