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- Karen Read prosecutor, jurors reveal their thoughts on the verdict</p>
<p>Karissa Waddick and Melina Khan, USA TODAYJune 25, 2025 at 3:47 AM</p>
<p>Jurors who voted to acquit Karen Read of the most serious charges said prosecutors failed to convince them of her guilt, while prosecutors accused Read's supporters of weakening their case.</p>
<p>In his first media appearance since the trial ended, the jury foreman, who declined to give his name, told the Today Show he believed Read was "innocent."</p>
<p>"No one could prove that she did this crime, so I looked at her from Day 1 as an innocent woman that needed to be proven guilty, and I don't think any of that was shown in this process," he said June 24.</p>
<p>More: Brian Albert, Jennifer McCabe, more witnesses speak out after Karen Read verdict</p>
<p>Prosecutors accused Read, 45, of hitting her boyfriend John O'Keefe with her Lexus SUV in a drunken rage and leaving him to die during a snowstorm on Jan. 29, 2022. Her first trial in 2024 ended in a hung jury, but on June 18, she was acquitted on charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter, though the jury found her guilty of drunk driving.</p>
<p>Read's defense team has long argued O'Keefe was killed by cops during a house party inside the home of fellow Boston police officer Brian Albert, then bitten by a dog and thrown outside. O'Keefe's body was found buried in the snow outside Albert's home on Jan. 29, 2022.</p>
<p>Here's what else key players have said.</p>
<p>Special prosecutor alleges 'intimidation and abuse'</p>
<p>Special Prosecutor Hank Brennan expressed disappointment in the verdict in a June 23 statement accusing Read's team and supporters of waging a "campaign of intimidation and abuse" throughout the trial.</p>
<p>"After an independent and thorough review of all the evidence, I concluded that the evidence led to one person, and only one person," said Brennan, who was hired by the Norfolk County District Attorney's office in 2024.</p>
<p>"Neither the closed federal investigation nor my independent review led me to identify any other possible suspect or person responsible for the death of John O'Keefe."</p>
<p>The years-long legal saga captivated true-crime fans, sparked conspiracy theories and splintered communities – with supporters of Read's holding rallies across the country. One of those supporters, the blogger Aidan Kearney, who goes by Turtleboy, was charged with witness intimidation.</p>
<p>"The campaign of intimidation and abuse that has been waged, funded, and promoted in public and on social media is the antithesis of justice," Brennan said in a statement. "It is my hope that with the verdict, the witnesses and their families will be left alone."</p>
<p>What are Karen Read jurors saying?</p>
<p>During his June 23 Today interview, the jury foreman said the 12-person panel didn't focus on their "personal feelings" when deciding Read's fate, but rather looked at the swaths of evidence presented during the eight-week long trial.</p>
<p>"It was the whole case all together, all the pieces ‒ the testimony, witnesses and just a lot of it together," that led to their decision, he said.</p>
<p>"Something did happen to Mr. O'Keefe, and it's foul play, or whatever you want to say, but there was no evidence even through multiple witnesses and testimony, by his autopsy and everything, there was still no one who said there was solid evidence that there was a collision or he got hit by a car," the foreperson added.</p>
<p>Another juror, who was identified only by his first name, Jason, told TMZ the piece of evidence that stuck out most to him was Read's taillight.</p>
<p>Investigators found pieces of Read's right taillight on the scene where O'Keefe's body was located, which prosecutors used to tie her to the crime.</p>
<p>But her defense team alleged police planted taillight shards to frame Read, and showed jurors videos taken after O'Keefe's body was found where Read's taillight appeared more in-tact.</p>
<p>An image of Karen Read's SUV with a damaged taillight which was put into evidence. The trial of Karen Read in Norfolk Superior Court at Dedham on Wednesday, April 23, 2025 Pool Photo by Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger</p>
<p>"It seemed to me that the videos that we could see from the car after the alleged incident happened that when we could see the taillight, it was lit up red when it shouldn't have been red," the juror told TMZ. "All I know is there were a lot of holes in the investigation."</p>
<p>Juror Paula Prado, who was a lawyer in Brazil before she moved to the United States, told the local NBC affiliate in Boston she believes O'Keefe went inside the Albert's home and "something happened inside the house."</p>
<p>She said she thought Read could have been guilty of manslaughter near the beginning of the trial but never saw evidence tying the Massachusetts woman to the scene of O'Keefe's death.</p>
<p>"The reason why I'm coming out and talking to people is to keep the flame going and the supporters going after the DA, or whatever they have to do, to reopen the case and find who really killed John O'Keefe," she said.</p>
<p>This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jurors, special prosecutor reveal thoughts on Karen Read verdict</p>
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