What to expect in Karen Reed’s upcoming second trial for the death of her police officer boyfriend

Former finance professional from Boston, Karen Read, will face trial for the second time regarding the death of her boyfriend, police officer John O’Keefe. Prosecutors claim that she abandoned O’Keefe, severely injured, in a January snowstorm in 2022.

Throughout the ordeal, Read has consistently declared her innocence. In the first trial, the proceedings concluded with a hung jury as her defense team put forward a theory suggesting that someone else may have been responsible for O’Keefe’s death, leaving him outside and setting up Read.

Joseph Giacalone, a former NYPD sergeant and current criminal justice professor at Penn State-Lehigh Valley, remarked, “The success of her entire defense rests on her ability to navigate the challenges posed by law enforcement.”

Those problems helped derail the first trial. Here are five things to know ahead of Tuesday’s do-over:

5. Read has been talking about the case

Read has given a number of public interviews about the case – rare for a defendant in a high-profile criminal case.

“My life is in the balance, and it shouldn’t be,” she told Boston 25 last month. “The more information the public has, the more they understand what we already know.”

Karen Read smiles in court before the start of motions in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger/IMAGN)

To that end, she’s been speaking out – and so have a number of supporters who have sided with her theory of a cover-up online. In another interview, she weighed in on her dalliance with Higgins, the ATF agent.

“I knew Higgins found me attractive,” she told Vanity Fair in August. “It helped me emotionally validate myself, which is embarrassing to admit.”

The tactic could backfire, Gelman said, especially if she winds up making an “impeachable statement” along the way.

“I don’t really like that she’s done so many interviews,” Gelman told Fox News Digital. “There’s enough publicity with the case.”

Fox News’ Chris Eberhart contributed to this report.